Buyunchaokete shines on serve to book Shanghai showdown with Ruud

China's Buyunchaokete advanced to the second round of the Shanghai Masters after defeating France's Luca Van Assche 7-6(3), 6-3 on Thursday.

The Chinese wildcard delivered an impressive serving performance, winning 37 of 38 points behind his first serve for a success rate of 97 percent.

He held all 11 of his service games without facing a break point.

Neither player managed a break in the opening set, which Buyunchaokete secured by winning the tiebreak 7-3.

The 24-year-old then broke Van Assche's serve in the eighth game of the second set before serving out the match.

Buyunchaokete, who is currently China's number one men's player, said he was pleased with his serving and explained that his strategy was to target Van Assche's forehand rather than his more consistent backhand.

The victory set up a second-round meeting with Norway's 20th seed Casper Ruud, who defeated Buyunchaokete in straight sets in their only previous encounter at the 2024 US Open.

The match against Ruud promises to be a tough challenge for Buyunchaokete but the Chinese has already proven that he can cause problems against the best in tennis after notably earning a victory over Rafael Jodar, also at the US Open last month.

Buyunchaokete became the third Chinese player to reach the second round in Shanghai this year, joining Wu Yibing and Zhou Yi.

Wu defeated American Michael Zheng 6-3, 7-6(6) to set up a meeting with top seed Alexander Zverev, while Zhou overcame Italy's Mattia Bellucci 6-4, 3-6, 7-6(4) and will next face 24th seed Lorenzo Musetti.