pWhen play began Monday at The Championships, no Chinese man in the Open Era had ever reached the second round. Shang Juncheng and Zhang Zhizhen wasted little time changing that./p
pBoth Chinese stars advanced to the second round at a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/tournaments/wimbledon/540/overview'Wimbledon/a with straight-sets victories on courts located right next to one another. Shang first defeated qualifier a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/cristian-garin/gd64/overview'Cristian Garin/a 7-5, 6-4, 6-4 and Zhang then eliminated another qualifier a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/maxime-janvier/j620/overview'Maxime Janvier/a 7-6(4), 6-3, 6-2./p
pldquo;It's exciting. I think we're all excited to win at the biggest stage, especially here in a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/tournaments/wimbledon/540/overview'Wimbledon/a,rdquo; Shang told ATPTour.com. ldquo;[It is the] first time me playing in the main draw, getting a win here. Also Z was just I think minutes behind. It's really good that both of us are in the second round. Hopefully we can do more.rdquo;/p
pZhang began his match on Court 5 after Shang started his encounter on Court 6. Fans were able to watch history made on both courts./p
pldquo;When I stepped on the court I just saw he was next to me. And also during the match I knew what was going on on the other side," Zhang said. "It's just right there. Actually when we were tossing the coin I was watching the other side. I was watching the score and then when we were playing I still can see some scores. Also when the fans were screaming, I didn't know what was going on in the point, but in the end [I heard] they were screaming.rdquo;/p
pimg src="/-/media/images/news/2024/07/01/15/21/zhang-wimbledon-2024-monday.jpg" style="width:100%;" alt="Zhang Zhizhen" /br /
emsupPhoto Credit: Francois Nel/Getty Images/supbr /
/emShang said: ldquo;I think I was I was pretty focused. I know the courts are really tight with each other and there are people moving around obviously in between courts, but the overall atmosphere just gets you super focused, I think overall, and you're just focusing on what's on your courthellip; Itrsquo;s probably one of the biggest matches you're playing in the year, in the first round in a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/tournaments/wimbledon/540/overview'Wimbledon/a. So I think I was I was quite focused."/p
pWhen told Zhang had his eye on his court, Shang cracked a smile. ldquo;I mean he's tall enough!rdquo; the 19-year-old said of his 6'4" countryman. ldquo;So I guess he can peek over. For me it's tough because of all the crowd in the middle for sure.rdquo;/p
pBoth men are happy with their effort Monday, but keen to continue forward at the grass-court major. Shang will next face 2017 a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/tournaments/nitto-atp-finals/605/overview'Nitto ATP Finals/a champion and 10th seed a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/grigor-dimitrov/d875/overview'Grigor Dimitrov/a. According to the teen, the key will be to not think about tennis between now and then./p
pldquo;I think that it's hard to do because you're all day in this tennis environment,rdquo; Shang said. ldquo;But I think we've been playing a little cards, Uno... just to get relaxed and then sometimes maybe even watch a movie and then read some books just to get me off thinking about tennis too much. So I get a good night's sleep and then get ready for the match again.rdquo;/p
[ATP APP]
pZhang has already thought about his next opponent, a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/jan-lennard-struff/sl28/overview'Jan-Lennard Struff/a, who pushed a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/jannik-sinner/s0ag/overview'Jannik Sinner/a to a final-set tie-break in Halle. Zhang is the highest-ranked Chinese player in PIF ATP Rankings history (career-high No. 33) and is the 32nd seed in London./p
pldquo;I want to keep going but there's Struff following me. It will be a tough match for the next one because he's a really good player and especially on the grass,rdquo; Zhang said. ldquo;I watched the match against Jannik so next one I will say will be really tough for me, even with the seed. I will think he's seeded.rdquo;/p
pFor now, the 27-year-old is happy to be through to the second round for the fourth consecutive major./p
pldquo;Today it was three sets, but it was still quite tough for me in the beginning. Pretty much a lot of big pressure in the first set,rdquo; Zhang said. ldquo;Itrsquo;s good. Itrsquo;s always good to win the first match.rdquo;/p
p[NEWSLETTER FORM]/p
