Indian Wells Masters: Wu beats Munar in third set tiebreak after controversial call on matchpoint
Yibing Wu edged out Jaume Munar 6-7 (6), 6-0, 7-6 (3) on Wednesday night. He’ll play No 23 seed Alejandro Davidovich Fokina in the next round
Chinese wildcard Yibing Wu advanced to the second round of the Indian Wells Masters after a dramatic three-set win over Spaniard Jaume Munar in a deciding set tiebreaker.
Wu needed three hours and 39 minutes for the 6-7 (6), 6-0, 7-6 (3) at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden with the match ending on a dramatic note as the Chinese player dived to hit what appeared to be a winning volley but his racket went out of his hand and hit the net.
Munar argued that Wu’s racket hit the net before the ball bounced twice and the point should be awarded to him but the chair umpire did not agree to his point of view.
Wu, ranked No 67 and the highest ranked male player from China in the history of the ATP rankings, will play No 23 seed Alejandro Davidovich Fokina next.
Wu’s win also makes him the first Chinese player to win an ATP 1000 Series match outside of their country and just the seventh by a Chinese male player in any country.
Indian Wells Masters, other first-round matches (Indian Wells Tennis Garden, hard, USD 8,800,000):
- Jiri Lehecka beat Arthur Rinderknech: 7-6 (4), 7-5
- Cristian Garin (Q) beat Daniel Elahi Galan: 6-4, 6-2
- Taro Daniel (Q) beat Roberto Carballes Baena: 6-1, 7-5
- Jason Kubler beat Lorenzo Sonego: 6-4, 7-6 (4)
- Pedro Cachin beat Nikoloz Basilashvili: 7-5, 6-3
- Emil Ruusuvuori beat Constant Lestienne: 6-4, 4-1 ret.
- Brandon Nakashima beat John Isner: 7-6 (7), 6-3
- Marcos Giron beat Aleksandar Kovacevic (WC): 6-3, 7-5
- Ugo Humbert beat Bernabe Zapata Miralles: 6-2, 7-6 (6)
- Oscar Otte beat Laslo Djere: 6-3, 7-5
- Ilya Ivashka beat Roman Safiullin: 6-4, 6-2
- Gregoire Barrere vs. Jack Sock
- Dominic Thiem vs. Adrian Mannarino
- Alexei Popyrin vs. Zhizhen Zhang
- Borna Gojo vs. Richard Gasquet
- Mikael Ymer vs. Rinky Hijikata
- J.J. Wolf vs. Marton Fucsovics
- Alex Molcan vs. Albert Ramos-Vinolas
- Pedro Martinez vs. Marc-Andrea Huesler
- Tomas Martin Etcheverry vs. Andy Murray
- Ben Shelton vs. Fabio Fognini
- Thiago Monteiro vs. Guido Pella
- Thanasi Kokkinakis vs. Brandon Holt
- Mackenzie McDonald vs. Filip Krajinovic
- Stan Wawrinka vs. Aleksandar Vukic
- Jan-Lennard Struff vs. Quentin Halys
- Leandro Riedi vs. Jack Draper
- Alexander Bublik vs. Tung-lin Wu
- Alejandro Tabilo vs. Maximilian Marterer
- Jordan Thompson vs. Gael Monfils
- Diego Schwartzman vs. Federico Coria