Chinese ace stuns world no 6 Rublev, advances to China Open semis

China's up-and-coming men's ace Buyunchaokete made history on Monday night after he stunned world No 6 Andrey Rublev in the quarterfinals at the China Open, becoming the first Chinese man to reach the semifinals of his country's home ATP 500 event.

Roared on by a capacity crowd at the Diamond Court, Buyunchaokete rode on his red-hot form in serving and baseline strokes to outlast the Russian star 7-5, 6-4 in 94 minutes to deliver arguably the biggest upset of the tournament, while securing his first career victory over a top-10 opponent on the men's pro circuit.

It was also the second final-four appearance at the 500 level on the ATP Tour by a Chinese after the country's top-ranked man Zhang Zhizhen's semifinal run at the 2023 Hamburg Open in Germany.

The 22-year-old rising star, who hails from the Mongolian ethnic group in Northwest China, also became the first Chinese man to secure back-to-back semifinal berths on the ATP Tour, following his semifinal run at last week's Hangzhou Open, a lower-level ATP250 event.

Buyunchaokete will next challenge Italy's reigning world No 1 Jannik Sinner in the top half of the semifinals, with Spain's world No 3 Carlos Alcaraz clashing with Russia's world No 5 Daniil Medvedev in the other half.

The Chinese sensation, who entered the Beijing tournament as the world No 96, has climbed up to No 69 on the live ATP rankings, having racked up 196 ranking points from three wins by Monday.