WU WARNS WORLD AFTER FIRST CHINESE BOYS SLAM TITLE
Wu Yibing served notice to the world that Chinese men’s tennis is on the rise on Sunday after capturing a milestone Grand Slam boys singles title at the US Open. The 17-yearold second seed from Hangzhou became China’s first boys Slam singles champion by defeating Argentina’s top-seeded Axel Geller 6-4, 6-4. “I think this is showing ourselves and showing the world Chinese boys can be good and better --- and Chinese men.” Wu made his best prior Grand Slam singles run into this year’s Australian Open semi-finals and also reached the Wimbledon quarter-finals. In doubles, Wu joined with Taiwan’s Hsu Yu-Hsiou to become the first all-Asian pair to capture the US Open boys doubles crown, defeating Japan’s Toru Horie and Yuta Shimizu 6-4, 5-7, 11-9. “It’s a really happy (feeling) to win the doubles and singles here,” Wu said. “And thank you to all the Chinese people here. It’s for China. It’s for me.” Wu squandered six championship points in the eighth game of the second set before taking the title on his seventh opportunity when Geller swatted a forehand wide after 80 minutes. “That was tough. My hand was shaking,” Wu said. “The only thing I can try to do is recover after that. I think I do well in the second service game.” The doubles took its toll on Wu during the fortnight as well. “I’m a little bit tired from the doubles,” Wu said. The only other Asian player to take the US Open boys title was Leander Paes in 1991.