NEW YORK, Aug. 31 (Xinhua) -- China's Wu Yibing kept up his history-making momentum to advance into the third round at the US Open while Wang Xiyu shocked world No. 3 Maria Sakkari in the women's event here on Wednesday.
Wu overcame fellow qualifier Nuno Borges of Portugal in a five-set thriller 6-7 (3), 7-6 (4), 4-6, 6-4, 6-4 in a four-hour marathon.
"This is my first Grand Slam second round. It was great for myself that I could maintain my level until the fifth set," Wu said.
"What I need now is a good rest and to keep my eagerness for victory in the next round," said the 22-year-old after the four-hour marathon.
Wu, 22, already made history when he sailed into the US Open men's singles second round as the first Chinese mainland player in the Open era on Monday.
The U.S. has been a happy hunting ground for Wu. He became the world No.1 in the ITF juniors ranking after winning the boys' singles title at the 2017 US Open.
In 2022, Wu won three Challenger titles in the U.S., including back-to-back trophy runs in July in Rome, Georgia and Indianapolis.
In the women's second round competition, Wang Xiyu stunned Sakkari of Greece 3-6, 7-5, 7-5 to advance into the women's singles round of 32 at a Grand Slam for the first time.
Wang, 21, who lost the first set 6-3 to last year's semifinalist Sakkari, remained calm to keep the 27-year-old third seed at bay with her big groundstrokes.
"I'm excited about the result. Today I did a good job but still need to improve my serving and my consistency. I'm just trying my best to save every ball," Wang said.
The world No. 75 took both the second and third sets 7-5 to conclude the match in two hours and 44 minutes and advance to the third round. It was the first time Chinese youngster Wang reached the round of 32 at a Grand Slam tournament.
Her compatriot Zhang Shuai beat Slovakia's Anna Karolina Schmiedlova in straight sets to book another berth in the third round.
Zhang, 33, displayed her consistency in the match of one hour and 27 minutes, seeing off the world No. 115 player 7-5 and 6-1.
"I played really well today. Passing such a big test lets me see my improvement. So happy to see many Chinese men and women make breakthroughs in this tournament," Zhang said.
World No. 36 Zhang reached the singles last 32 at the U.S. Open for the fourth time, with her best results at the Grand Slam events being two quarterfinal finishes at the Australian Open and Wimbledon.
Chinese pair Wang Xinyu and Zhu Lin lost their opening match to Anna Bondar of Hungary and Greet Minnen of Belgium 5-7, 6-3, 4-6 in the women's doubles. ■
