Sports
11:20, 25-Aug-2018
Chinese tennis sensation Wu Yibing powers into men's singles final at Asian Games
Updated
10:42, 28-Aug-2018
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Teenage sensation Wu Yibing defeated South Korea's deaf tennis player Lee Duck-hee to become the Chinese mainland's first player in 24 years to reach the men's singles final at the Asian Games.
The 18-year-old, who is ranked 317 in the world, cruised past Philippines' top junior player Jeson Patrombon in his first match in Jakarta. He then followed that up with a resounding win over Japan's Yasutaka Uchiyama on Wednesday.
After thrashing Jurabek Karimov of Uzbekistan on Thursday, he needed more than two hours and had to sit through multiple rain delays to see off the seventh-seeded Lee 6-3, 3-6, 7-5 in the semifinal.
Wu Yibing serves against Lee Duck-hee (not pictured) in the semi-final of the men's singles at the Asian Games, August 24, 2018. /VCG Photo
Wu Yibing serves against Lee Duck-hee (not pictured) in the semi-final of the men's singles at the Asian Games, August 24, 2018. /VCG Photo
In the other semifinal match, top seed Denis Istomin of Uzbekistan comfortably beat India's Prajnesh Gunneswaran 6-2, 6-2.
The much-anticipated final on Saturday afternoon will see a much sterner test with Wu, the US Open boys' champion, locking horns with Denis Istomin, who famously stunned defending champion Novak Djokovic in the second round at the Australian Open last year.