KOBLENZ, December 14, 2017
One of China’s most promising tennis players will come to Germany next year as Yibing Wu will compete in the €43,000 Koblenz Open, held at the Conlog Arena from 14 to 21 January 2018. The 18-year-old Hangzhou native aims to build on his breakthrough season this year. Wu clinched the US Open junior’s title and won his first Pro-level events.
On the ITF Pro Circuit, Wu made his debut as a 15-year-old in April 2015 at a Futures event in China. He came through the qualifying to reach the main draw but fell in three sets in the opening round.
His first main draw victory came in his third tournament. Having been handed a wildcard into a Futures event in China in February 2016, Wu defeated Hung Jui-Chen in the opening round, but fell in the second.
He earned a first ATP Challenger-level win in October 2016, saving match points to defeat Kwon Soon Woo in three sets in the opening round of the Ningbo Challenger in China but lost to Hyeon Chung in the second round.
In February 2017, Wu made his Davis Cup by BNP Paribas debut for China against Chinese Taipei, where he defeated Jason Jung in his first match.
Not long after that, in March this year, Wu advanced to his first pro-level final, winning his maiden trophy on the ITF Pro Circuit by beating Danilo Petrovic of Serbia at the Anning Futures on clay.
Later that month, he made his first appearance at an ATP World Tour event when he was a awarded a wildcard into the qualifying of the Miami Open, but Wu lost to US-American Jared Donaldson before he could make the main draw.
Junior’s Grand Slam Title And First ATP Challenger Triumph
As No. 2 seed in the boys’ singles draw of the US Open in September he beat Axel Geller in the final to become the first Chinese player to win a Grand Slam title. The teenager rose to No. 1 in ITF Junior Rankings.
One week after his Junior US Open victory, Wu was handed a wildcard into the Shanghai Challenger. He stormed through the field, reaching the final without dropping a set. In the title match, he faced off against 29-time Challenger champion Yen-Hsun Lu. After clinching a tight first set, Lu was forced to retire and Wu lifted his first ATP Challenger trophy.
Alongside fellow teenager Miomir Kecmanovic of Serbia, Wu was hitting partner for some of the ATP World Tour’s biggest names such as Roger Federer, Grigor Dimitrov and Dominic Thiem at the Nitto ATP Finals in London.
Wu will open the 2018 season at the ATP Challenger event in Bangkok before the 18-year-old from China will try to continue his good run at Germany’s biggest indoor tennis tournament. However, Wu will face tough competition as big-serving Frenchman Kenny de Schepper, local favourite Dustin Brown as well as World No. 162 Jurgen Zopp of Estonia commited to play the Koblenz Open.
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