Nonseed Bu Yunchaokete made history at the 2016 US Open on Wednesday. He became the first “lucky loser” to beat a top-15 seed in a tennis major in the Open Era, which began in 1968.
The term “lucky winner” means the player who lost the final qualifying match of the major but is still added to the field because the players in the draw must retire.
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Yunchaokete replaced Thanasi Kokkinakis in the tournament and only on Tuesday found himself playing 12-seeded Rafal Jodar on Wednesday. Kokkinakis retired due to a sprain and calf injury in the Cincinnati Masters trailing to the US Open.
Jodar is ranked as the world’s number one tournament entrant. 13 men’s tennis player, but could not build any momentum on Wednesday. Yunchaokete didn’t just pull off the upset; he dominated.
Four years ago, the 24-year-old allowed Jodar to win only four games in the match, in straight sets 6-2, 6-1, 6-1.
Yunchaokete will now turn his attention to the second round match, which will be against either Fabian Marozsan or Michael Zheng, both of whom will be incredible.
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Yunchaokete is playing in his third-ever US Open and seventh tennis major. Until the course before, not the actual course of time.
In fact, this is the first time the Chinese star has won a Grand Slam tournament in 24 years. He went from 0-6 all time to now 1-6.
Yunchaokete has competed in 11 ATP Masters 1000 events. None of these things ever went round except the other.
If Yunchaokete can take the second round victory in the 2016 US Open, it would be the biggest victory of his future career, and everything behind him can not participate from the beginning.