Victory and even an anecdote with an unbalanced ball passer: the Chinese tennis player who captivated Marcelo Ríos shines at the Lexington Challenger

Juncheng Shang (344th ATP) is closer to having Marcelo Ríos on his bench during the Lexington tournament. The “Chino” had promised him that if he entered the Challenger semi-finals he would go see him and the Asian has already achieved the first goal by beating Stefan Dostanic (642nd) on his debut 6-0, 4-6 and 6- 3. Instance in which he also took the opportunity to show his education and good character. Signs that suggest that sooner or later the deal between the Chilean and the 17-year-old could be done.

And it is that one of the postcards that remains of Shang’s first game after training for a week with Marcelo Ríos, was his attitude when one of the ball players lost his balance in the middle of the game. It was 40 deuces in the third game of the third set, when heat and exhaustion took their toll on the young woman.

Shang didn’t hesitate to help her as soon as he realized the problem and even hugged the woman. so that she can be cared for in a more conducive and friendly place. An attitude that makes inevitable the memory of one of the sentences that Ríos launched in the conversation with La Tercera where he recounted his feelings after a week of training with the Asian: “It’s too good, because the Chinese are like that for a cultural thing. Maybe he’s very polite, though maybe the least I have is being polite “, were the words of the former world number one.

As for the development of the match, it was a difficult first round for Juncheng. The 17-year-old went from winning the first set 6-0 to losing the second 6-4, causing the early sense of superiority to dissipate and forcing actions into a third set. There he dominated again and managed to secure the match 6-3. In this form, he already has four consecutive Challengers in which he manages to overcome his debut.

In numbers, the game leaves positive stats for the player who lives in Florida. He managed to convert six of the nine break options he had and successfully defended 12 of the 15 he allowed against . As for the serve, he managed to connect three aces and had a 64% success rate on the first serve, winning 60% of them.

These are the points that Chino Ríos worked on in the first days he shared with Shang. It was a week in which they enjoyed getting to know each other, as they strike an economic deal that binds them together forever. “During these six days, I only changed three things, because I’m afraid to make a lot of changes and it’s going to get caught. commented El Deportivo.

On the courts of Nick Bollettieri (now IMG Academy), he focused on his potential pupil starting to hit the forehand with more spin, standing on the line to return serves that came from the side of the net. advantage and serving could throw the ball higher.

After overcoming the debut, this Wednesday Jerry faced the Kazakh Mikhail Kukushkin (225th), in a tough test, since his rival was 39 in the world in 2019 and in this contest he appeared as the fifth seed. However, it didn’t matter to him to beat him 7-6 (5) and 6-3, in a match where he was very solid on his serve, not giving up throughout the match, and He entered a challenger’s quarter-final for the first time in his career and became the first player born in 2005 to do so.

With this new triumph, Shang will move up at least 22 places and will rank 322nd in the standings. If he beats the winner of the duel between the first seed, the Russian Roman Safiullin (124th), and the Indian Mukund Sasikumar (445th) in the quarter-finals, he will be at the limit of the top 300.

The native of Beijing seems to have perfectly adopted the advice that Rios gave him to improve his game. Now only a victory separates him from the Chilean who accompanies him and joins his bench in Lexington. It could be their first time in a professional tournament, the first in a long series.