New York:

Zhang Zhizhen ousted fifth seed Casper Ruud at the US Open on Wednesday, becoming the first man from China to beat a top five player.

The 26-year-old from Shanghai, ranked 67th in the world, played the biggest match of his life to defeat last year’s US Open finalist 6-4, 5-7, 6-2, 0-6, 6-2. 3 hours 19 minutes.

Zhang’s victory was the first time a male Chinese player had defeated a player ranked in the world’s top five.

In an attempt to reach the last 16 of a Grand Slam for the first time, Zhang will face Australia’s Rinke Hijikata in the third round on Friday.

Wednesday’s turnaround was in stark contrast to Zhang’s campaign in last year’s tournament, where he was knocked out in the first round after the COVID-19 pandemic effectively shut down his career.

Zhang said, “First of all, with the COVID situation, it is hard to get out. Then everything is hard.”

“I don’t think (at that time) we believed we could achieve this result. At that moment I would say we are thinking more about trying to break the top hundred, that is our target, the target that You decide step by step.”

Zhang said he would take the same approach for the rest of the US Open, starting with Friday’s third-round tie.

He said, “Round by round, step by step, and we’ll see.” “I can’t think too far ahead. Every round is tough.”

Earlier, anger had flared after Rudd leveled the match 6-0 in the fourth set.

Zhang left the court for several minutes to take a toilet break and change clothes, which apparently hindered Rude’s momentum.

The Norwegian’s serve was promptly broken in the first game of the final set, and a frustrated Rudd complained angrily to the chair umpire, accusing him of failing to enforce the time limit.

“Why don’t you do something?” Rude shouted at the umpire. “Sometimes you follow the rules clearly, sometimes you don’t care. Why don’t you do anything?”

With Rudd settled, Zhang regained his lead. He broke again in the fifth game to take a 4-1 lead and then held on for a 5-1 lead.

Rudd held serve to cut the gap to 5–2, but Zhang sealed victory with a superb backhand volley on match point.

Rude later admitted that Zhang’s long break before the deciding set had derailed him.

Rudd said, “It’s six, seven minutes where I walk around doing nothing.” “There I probably lost my balance, and it’s frustrating, because you’re moving on, you’ve won the fourth set, you want to move on.

“That’s why I was a bit disappointed, I asked the umpire what are the rules here.”