China's Shang, Wang reach Madrid Open 2nd round

China's wildcard Shang Juncheng advanced to the Madrid Open second round after a hard-fought victory that lasted nearly four hours against French qualifier Corentin Moutet 6-7(9), 6-2, 7-6(10) on Wednesday. Fellow Chinese player Wang Xiyu advanced in the women's singles against Bulgaria's Viktoriya Tomova in a three-set marathon 5-7, 7-5, 6-4.

"It's gotta be the longest match I have ever played in my life," said Shang, who effectively rose to a career-high of world No. 103 after Wednesday and could enter the Top 100 if he wins in the next round against local Alejandro Davidovich Fokina. 

"On clay it was very tough physically against an amazing player like Corentin. The level was insane. Even had I lost I would not have had regrets. It was almost the perfect match for me," said the 19-year-old.

"I was talking to my dad and I said 'What is the worst thing that can happen?' I told my team that the only player I didn't want to play was Corentin," Shang said. "I don't want to see him in the first round of the draw. When I got him, I just told myself: 'Win or lose I would have fun and enjoy every point.'"

Meanwhile, on the women's side, Wang managed to break Tomova twice, trailing 5-4 in the second set to come back from one set down, before she set up her next match against world No. 1 Iga Swiatek of Poland.  

In other matches on Wednesday, Chinese women players Zhu Lin, Yuan Yue, Zhang Shuai and Bai Zhuoxuan suffered early exits. Zhu lost in straight sets to Victoria Jimenez Kasintseva from Andorra. Yuan, who has been on a hot streak this season, went down against Yulia Putintseva of Kazakhstan. Veteran Zhang was edged out by American Shelby Rodgers, and Bai lost to American Caroline Dolehide.

(With input from Xinhua)