Zhang Zhizhen becomes first Chinese player ever to reach a Masters 1000 quarterfinal

Zhang Zhizhen has made history at the Mutua Madrid Open, winning a nail-biter against Taylor Fritz in the fourth round on Tuesday, 3-6, 7-6 (5), 7-6 (8), to become the first Chinese player ever to reach the quarterfinals of a Masters 1000 event.

It had already been a tournament full of milestones for the 26-year-old, defeating Austrian qualifier Jurij Rodionov in the first round for his first career win at a Masters 1000, then getting his first Top 30 win in the second round (over No. 27 Denis Shapovalov), his first Top 20 win in the third round (over No. 13 Cameron Norrie) and now his first Top 10 win against the No. 10-ranked Fritz.

And after needing third set tie-breaks to pull off his last two upsets, Zhang did it the hard way again against Fritz on Tuesday.

Fritz was originally up a set and a break at 6-3, 4-3, and even had a 40-0 lead in that service game, but Zhang broke back and eventually took the second set to a tie-break, where he dug out of an early 3-0 deficit to push the match to a third set.

After eight straight holds to start the decider, Zhang broke for a chance to serve it out—but Fritz broke right back for 5-all, and after two more holds, they headed for a winner-take-all tie-break.

Opportunities came and went for both players in the breaker—Fritz had double match point at 6-4, then Zhang had his first match point up 7-6, then Fritz had a third match point at 8-7.

But Zhang finally closed out the upset on his second match point when Fritz mis-hit a deep forehand at the end of an 18-ball rally, and Zhang dropped his racquet and threw his arms in the air.

“I didn’t really think about ranking, because you just need to give it all the best you can. He’s a very tough player, I know, there’s no weakness, so just find what I can do,” Zhang said afterwards.

“Losing the first set, I was thinking about trying to play a little bit closer match, you know, and in the end I can win—that’s amazing.”

Fritz actually finished with more winners (36 to 34) and fewer unforced errors (27 to 38), but in the end it was all about the tie-breaks, and Zhang lifted his game at the end of both.

Zhang is just the second Chinese player to beat a Top 10 player in ATP rankings history, after Wu Yibing, who defeated Fritz—coincidentally—en route to winning Dallas earlier this year.

Awaiting the No. 99-ranked Zhang in the quarterfinals in Madrid will be Aslan Karatsev, who also reached the first Masters 1000 quarterfinal of his career on Tuesday after beating a Top 10 player, defeating No. 3-ranked Daniil Medvedev, 7-6 (1), 6-4.

Karatsev is a No. 121-ranked qualifier here, but he’s a former No. 14.

And Zhang is well aware of Karatsev’s game.

“You know what, I’ll tell you a secret—we had a practice, I lost 6-0 against Karatsev. So again, I’ll do my best!” Zhang said.

“Everyone here is a great player, huge players, they all have some very good results, so I’ll try to do the best that I can do.”