Zhang Zhizhen becomes first Chinese man to play at Wimbledon in Open era | Sports

LONDON, June 25 — Zhang Zhizhen qualified for Wimbledon on Thursday to become the first Chinese man in the Open era to play in the Grand Slam tournament.

The 24-year-old defeated Argentina’s Francisco Cerundolo 6-0, 6-3, 6-7 (4/7), 7-6 (8/6) in the final round of qualifying to make the main draw.

Ranked 178 in the world, Shanghai native Zhang is the only Chinese man in the world top 250.

He is also only the fourth Chinese man to play singles in the main draw of a Grand Slam since 1968 after Wu Di at the Australian Open in 2013, 2014 and 2016, Zhang Ze at the Australian Open in 2014 and 2015, and Li Zhe at the 2019 Australian Open.

Until Thursday, Zhang had tried and failed to qualify for this year’s…