Wu Yibing defeats Taylor Fritz to become first Chinese man to reach an ATP final in Open Era

Wu Yibing made history in Dallas on Saturday, upsetting Taylor Fritz to become the first Chinese man to reach an ATP final in the Open Era.

The 23-year-old, who had taken out No. 3 seed Denis Shapovalov and No. 8 seed Adrian Mannarino earlier in the week, was already just the second Chinese man to reach a tour-level semifinal in the Open Era, after Pan Bing, who made the semis in Seoul in 1995.

But with a come-from-behind 6-7 (3), 7-5, 6-4 victory over the No. 1-seeded Fritz he one-upped that, and could one-up it one more time if he goes on to win the title at the ATP 250 event.

“When I played today I wasn’t thinking about any score or winning. I just tried to perform my best,” Wu said in his on-court interview.

He then thanked the fans.

“You guys were amazing, cheering for us every point. Thanks guys.”

After dropping a 58-minute first set, Wu was in trouble a few times in the second set—he had to fend off five break points serving at 1-2, and was even two points from losing serving at 4-5, 0-30.

But he held, broke and held to take the second set, got another break of serve at 2-all in the third and hung onto that break the rest of the match, eventually serving it out a few games later.

The Hangzhou native's victory over the No. 8-ranked Fritz wasn't just the first Top 10 win of his career, it was the first Top 20 win of his career. And his straight-set victory over No. 27-ranked Shapovalov earlier this week was the first Top 30 win of his career.

Having only just made his Top 100 debut last Monday, Wu is already up to No. 76 on the ATP's official live rankings, and would break the Top 60 if he wins the title. He's already guaranteed of becoming the highest-ranked Chinese man in ATP rankings history.

Awaiting him in the final of the indoor event will be the No. 5 seed, John Isner, who won a 3-6, 7-5, 7-6 (4) nail-biter against No. 6 seed J.J. Wolf in an all-American first semifinal of the day.

Isner will be going for the 17th ATP title of his career—this will be his 31st career ATP final, and he’s 16-14 in his previous 30 finals.

Sunday’s final between Isner and Wu will be a first-time meeting.