ATP Shanghai Masters: Tour debutant Chuhan Wang stuns Fabio Fognini in straight sets
Tuesday 7 October 2014 15:07, UK
ATP World Tour debutant Chuhan Wang, ranked 553 in the world, caused a major shock at the Shanghai Masters after the Chinese wildcard knocked out Fabio Fognini in straight sets.
Live ATP Masters Tennis
Wang, who mainly plays in Challenger or Futures tournaments, recorded a stunning 7-6 (7-5) 6-4 opening round victory over the Italian on the Grandstand court to huge cheers from the home crowd.
The 22-year-old, who lost in the first round of qualifying for Beijing last week, showed few nerves as he continued to pound aggressively for the lines against a flat Fognini who offered little in the closing stages of the match.
Wang secured victory over the world No 17 with a stunning backhand winner up the line before turning to his coaching team with a shocked expression and clenched fists.
Jaziri next up
Wang, who has made two semi-final appearances at Futures tournaments this season, will face Tunisian qualifier Malek Jaziri in the next round after the world No 87 upset American Donald Young 7-5 6-4 with the winner facing a potential third-round date against World No 4 Stan Wawrinka.
The loss was a fifth in a row for Fognini who has now won just one match since reaching the Cincinnati quarter-finals two months ago.
Meanwhile, Russian Mikhail Youzhny dropped just 10 points on serve as he downed 12th seed Ernests Gulbis 6-4 6-1 with a serving masterclass while huge-hitting Ivo Karlovic continued his good form by hammering down 24 aces on his way to a 7-6 (8-6) 6-3 victory over Lu Yen-Hsun.
The big-serving Croatian lost just nine points on serve and meets Tomas Berdych or Richard Gasquet in the third round.
Canadian Vasek Pospisil edged out Santiago Giraldo 6-2 6-7(5) 6-1 and takes on 14th seed Roberto Bautista in the second round.
Frenchman Gilles Simon beat Guillermo Garcia-Lopez 3-6 6-0 6-1 while his compatriot Julien Benneteau overcame Zhang Ze 5-7 6-3 6-3.
Feliciano Lopez fired 19 aces to overcome Greek-Australian qualifier Thanasi Kokkinakis 6-7 (12-14) 6-3 6-4 and set an all-Spanish clash with world No 2 Rafa Nadal and American Steve Johnson battled his way past Kazakh Andrey Golubev 6-3 1-6 6-3.
Watch LIVE action of the ATP Shanghai Masters on Sky Sports 3 HD from 6am on Wednesday morning.
