Buyunchaokete falls to World No. 1 Sinner in China Open semifinals

Buyunchaokete saw his inspiring run at the China Open come to an end with a straight-sets loss in the men's singles semifinals in Beijing on Tuesday.

The crowd favorite fell to No. 1 seed Jannik Sinner of Italy 6-3, 7-6(3) after reaching the last four at a second straight Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) Tour event. He previously bowed out in the semifinals at last month's Hangzhou Open.

The 22-year-old Buyunchaokete faced Sinner for the first time when he was 15 and came up short in an International Tennis Federation (ITF) G2 match. "He beat me in less than two hours in that match," Buyunchaokete said.

Sinner neutralized Buyunchaokete's best weapon, his serve, with a display of remarkable returning and claimed the first set with solid defense. But the man from northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region learned from his opponent and redirected his strategy to targeting Sinner's backhand.

Buyunchaokete had a chance to take the set in the 10th game, but Sinner rode the momentum of his consistent serving to send the match into a tiebreaker, on the way to wrapping up the contest with an ace.

"I actually don't remember the details of our junior match." Buyunchaokete told reporters. "It's a different match today at a different level. He gave me a lot of pressure and made me nervous. He had better serves too. I didn't have many opportunities."

Buyunchaokete said he experienced a lot of "firsts" at the China Open, including playing in his first ATP 500 tournament and facing opponents ranked among the Top 100 in the world in four straight matches.

Buyunchaokete defeated his compatriot Shang Juncheng, No. 6 seed Lorenzo Musetti of Italy and No. 4 seed Andrey Rublev of Russia on the way to the semifinals. He added that he hopes that more Chinese children can continue to believe in their tennis dreams after watching his performance.

"The future of both children and Chinese tennis is bright," Buyunchaokete said.

The championship contest will feature Sinner taking on Carlos Alcaraz of Spain, who beat Daniil Medvedev of Russia 7-5, 6-3 in the other semifinal match.