Two days ago, in the ATP 500 Acapulco final, Czech player Mahać defeated Spain's Fokina in straight sets to win the first tour title of his career. While Mahachi happily lifted the trophy, Fokina, who was next to him, was a little melancholy. Indeed, the player has reached the final of the Tour three times, but has not been able to win a single tour. Speaking of which, both players have some ties to Chinese men's tennis players. Last season, Mahachi partnered with Zhang Zhizhen, the first brother of Chinese men's tennis, to reach the semifinals of the Australian Open men's doubles. Not only that, but they also won the ATP 250 Marseille Open Men's Doubles title, which is the best doubles record of a Chinese male tennis player at a Grand Slam and tour.

Since 2019, Fokina has defeated five Chinese men's tennis players, Sun Fajing, Wu Yixuan, Zhang Zhizhen, Shang Juncheng, and Zhou Yi, in six years, maintaining a seven-game winning streak. Objectively speaking, calling Fokina a killer of Chinese players may also be well-deserved. However, perhaps few people know that there is actually a post-00 player who has won seven consecutive victories against Chinese men's tennis players. And what is even more surprising to fans is that this post-00s player has also reached the tour finals three times and failed to win the championship, so who is this post-00 player? Who did he and Fokina lose to in the final of the tour? Let me show you today.

The post-00s is American player Mickelson, starting from 2022, in three years, he has defeated Li Zhe, Shang Juncheng and Buyun Chaoket, three Chinese men's tennis players, and also achieved a seven-game winning streak. In April 2022, Fokina defeated the American player Giron, Serbian king Djokovic and the former year-end finals runner-up, Belgium's Goffin, as well as the United States' Fritz, who just won his first career Masters title, and the former year-end finals champion, Bulgaria's Dimitrov, and others to reach the first tour final of his career. Unfortunately, in the final, he faced defending champion Tsitsipas and he was not able to make it to the end, but despite this, Fokina still raised his world ranking to the top 30.

As for Mickelson, reaching the final of the tour was a year away. In July 2023, Mickelsen, who had just won his first Challenger title, won his first career tour victory with a two-set comeback victory over defending champion Cressy after losing one set in the first round of the ATP 250 Newport Open. After that, Mickelson was out of control, beating Australia's Duckworth, compatriots McDonald, Isner and others to make it four wins in a row and reach the first tour final of his career. Unfortunately, young people always have to pay tuition, and against the French veteran Mannarino, Mikkelsen was defeated. Still, his performance at this stop was commendable.

In July 2024, Mickelson reached the final again at the ATP 250 Newport Open. In the final, he took the lead by stealing seven. However, just as many fans were ready to celebrate Mickelson's victory, his opponent Giron fought back to win his first career tour title in two sets. This time, Mickelson held up the plate again, and the plate was filled with his tears.

A month later, Mickelson made a comeback, reaching the final of the ATP 250 Winston-Salem Open. But in the face of Italian veteran Sonego, he actually swallowed a duck egg in the first set. In the second set, despite his improved form, Mickelson still managed to win only three games, which was the first time that Mickelson had won only three games in two sets in a tour final.

For various reasons, in the past two years, Fokina has only reached the semi-finals of the Monte Carlo Masters in the 2023 season, and nothing else has been achieved. For this reason, he changed his head coach at the end of 2024 and wanted to fulfill his dream of winning the tour. In February 2025, at the ATP 250 Delray Beach Open, Fokina triumphantly sang all the way to the final. In the final, he saw the dawn of victory in the next city. Unfortunately, in the following match, Serbia's Kecmanovic won two sets in a row to end Fokina's dream of winning the championship.

Unwilling to fail last week, Fokina is once again challenging for the Tour title. He reached the third tour final of his career with victories over Italy's Bellucci and American Tiafoe, Mexico's Pacheco and Canada's Shapovalov on wild cards. Unfortunately, this time, against the Czech Republic's Makhac, who reached the final of the tour for the second time in his career, Fokina still didn't have the last laugh. In the process of writing this article, I have received the support of Xiao Liu from Harbin, and I would like to thank him.

A lot of times, the world of tennis is really just a teahouse. In this teahouse, there are many, many tea customers who have been here for a long time, and some of them have become quite famous. However, there are always fledgling tea drinkers who come here and look forward to tasting the sweet tea with their own efforts. And the author is just a small scholar in the corner of this teahouse who tells the stories of these tea customers in obscurity. I hope my article can bring some fresh information to all fans. Whether it's compliments or criticisms, maybe it's just to be able to get me far. That's it for today, and it continues tomorrow.(Source: Tennis Home Author: Yixin Jushi)