ATP Washington: Wu Yibing defeats 10th seed Poprin and will face Medvedev

The ATP 500 event in Washington has entered the second round of men's singles, where Chinese player Wu Yibing, who advanced from the qualifiers, defeated 10th seed and last year's Montreal Masters champion Poprin with a score of 7-5, 5-7, 6-3. This victory marks his first win against a TOP 30 player this season, allowing him to reach the last 16 in men's singles and improve his ranking to No. 186. Wu Yibing started in the qualifiers for this event, winning two matches to advance to the main draw, where he faced French veteran Monfils in the first round. He won decisively in two sets, achieving his first tour victory since last year's Shanghai, and has already secured a spot in this year's US Open qualifiers.

Wu Yibing

In a post-match interview, Wu Yibing said: "I have faced this opponent many times, and I feel I had some advantages at the baseline. He served better than I did, but overall, I performed quite well. I am improving with each match in this tournament, finding more rhythm in my baseline play, and showing good aggression with both my forehand and backhand. I hope to maintain this and continue to improve in the mid-court area."

Wu Yibing's opponent in the third round will be former world No. 1 and 8th seed Medvedev, with the match set to start at 23:00 Beijing time tonight. Their only previous encounter took place in the third round of the 2022 US Open, where Wu Yibing also qualified for the main draw. Looking ahead to this match, he stated in an interview: "The opponent is quite challenging; Medvedev is well-known. I hope to play aggressively and perform better."

Buhyun Chokte

Buhyun Chokte lost to 7th seed De Minaur in the second round of men's singles in Washington with a score of 6-7(5), 2-6, failing to reach the last 16. His record in tiebreaks this season stands at 3 wins and 16 losses. His next event will be the Toronto Masters starting next week.

2nd seeds Zhang Shuai/Townsend advanced further in Washington, winning a close match against the local wild card duo of Venus Williams/Baptiste with a score of 6-4, 3-6, 10-6, successfully reaching the semifinals. The Chinese pair Xu Yifan/Yang Zhaoxuan defeated the Australian duo of Jones/Perez with a score of 6-4, 6-4, progressing past the first round and will face top seeds Muhammad/Luttrie in the quarterfinals.

(Text and editing by Wang Fei, Images by Visual China)