On a Day 2 schedule at Roland Garros packed full of drama and emotion, one player slipped through to the second round with little fanfare or fuss.
As French fans farewelled Gael Monfils and Stan Wawrinka, clung on during dramatic victories for Elina Svitolina and Casper Ruud, and watched the imperious progress of Iga Swiatek and Elena Rybakina, Wu Yibing progressed in straight sets in the final match of the day on Court 5.
The Chinese talent, on the comeback trail, pounded an extraordinary 51 winners to Marcos Giron’s 18 in completing a 7-5 6-2 6-4 win over the American.
MORE FROM RG: Baptiste strikes again to continue rise at Roland Garros
It marked his first main-draw win at Roland Garros and continued his exciting upward trend; since the beginning of 2025 his record is 45-19 and he’s risen more than 300 ranking places.
In 2023, similarly exciting progress was interrupted by injuries. In fact, injuries have been the story of the 26-year-old’s career. From March 2019, he missed almost three years with what the ATP summarised as “issues with his elbow, which required surgery, his lower back, shoulder and wrist.”
But when he finally got healthy, tennis observers saw what the former junior world No.1 could do, discovering a player with easy power, shotmaking flair, dynamic athleticism, and a little swagger, too.
Competing regularly in 2023, Wu became the first Chinese man to win an ATP singles title when he stunned Denis Shapovalov, Taylor Fritz and John Isner along the way to winning in Dallas.
Later that season, he peaked at world No.54, and along with countrymen Shang Juncheng and Zhang Zhizhen, formed part of a Chinese charge rising up the ATP rankings and igniting tennis interest in their homeland.
A nation of almost 1.5 billion people, China has a growing and highly engaged tennis fanbase, which again surged when Zheng Qinwen reached the AO 2024 final then claimed Olympic gold at the Paris 2024 games.
Wu was rising even faster than Zheng – ranked 1749 in April 2022, he arrived on the cusp of the top 50 just 13 months later – when injury returned in 2023. He did not compete after that year’s US Open, played only 14 matches in 2024, and again a limited schedule in 2025.
One of those events was Roland Garros qualifying this time last year, where he was ranked outside the top 400.
Yet his re-ascension began immediately. In his next event, he won the Tyler Challenger as a qualifier, continued to thrive on the Challenger tour, and later in the year reached the ATP semifinals in Hangzhou, upsetting No.2 seed Daniil Medvedev en route.
“It means everything, especially at home. It’s been a long couple of years behind me. I overcame a lot of injuries,” Wu told atptour.com. “It’s not easy to be here, especially winning three matches in a row.”
Competing more regularly in 2026, Wu has flourished, building a 20-9 record so far.
He began the year by qualifying for the Australian Open and reaching the second round, where he fell to Eliot Spizzirri in five. Then came a quarterfinal at the ATP 500 event in Acapulco, and victory at April’s Sarasota Challenger – a result that boosted him to world No.102, just inside the direct entry ranking cutoff for Roland Garros.
By winning his first match in Paris, it marks the first time in his career Wu has won first-round matches at multiple Slams in one season.
No.10 seed Flavio Cobolli – who stopped him in the Acapulco quarters – awaits in round two.