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Wu Yibing came back from the brink to make history on Sunday at the Dallas Open, where the 23-year-old saved four championship points before beating John Isner 6-7(4), 7-6(3), 7-6(12) to become the first Chinese player to lift an ATP Tour crown.
Wu Yibing completed a remarkable two-hour, 59-minute victory despite Isner firing 44 aces in the match. Prior to this week, no Chinese man had ever reached a tour-level final or defeated a player ranked in the Top 10 of the ATP Rankings. Wu accomplished both with his semi-final victory over World No. 8 Taylor Fritz in Dallas, and he continued his historic run in Sunday's final with a landmark triumph for tennis in his country. Wu appeared to have wilted in the face of Isner's characteristic serving assault in the indoor ATP 250 event in Texas. At 6-5, 30/40 in the second set, the American had a championship point on his opponent's serve, but Wu kept his cool to recover before sealing a historic triumph in a tense deciding-set tie-break. Wu forced Isner to hit a forehand long to win a third-set tie-break in which he served the opening 22 points. Even after falling behind a set, Wu continued to strike aggressively from the baseline in his first tour-level match against Isner. His mix of power and accuracy resulted in 41 wins, including seven aces, and the Chinese won all 13 net points he played. Wu became only the second Chinese player to break the Top 100 in the ATP Rankings on Monday. Just one week later, he will reach a career-high World No. 58. "I made history here for my country and for my home. I'm very proud of myself and especially thanks to all the fans and my team who came here to support. I couldn't do this without any of you guys," ATP.com quoted Wu Yibing as saying at the trophy ceremony. "It's a tough one to lose. I don't know how many match points I had, I'm sure it's a lot. I swear I thought I won the match a few times. I know he hit one ball... It had to be [on] the back sixteenth of the line on one of the points... Sports can be brutal. I had match point in the second set too," said Isner, who is now 16-15 in tour-level finals. "It's like he plays every point the same, so definitely no nerves. He gets a ball to hit, he hits it, and on this court it's hard to hit him a shot he is uncomfortable with... He is an unbelievable ball striker and a very good talent," added Isner when asked about Wu's performance. (ANI)
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