After three consecutive victories, Li Zhe won the first victory in the main match of the 2025 Challenge, which is worthy of respect

With the passage of time, the once green post-80s generation has gradually grown old. Nowadays, in the professional tennis world, there are fewer and fewer post-80s players, and objectively speaking, they are as rare as "living fossils". This week, there is a post-80s Chinese veteran, who has proved with his actions that in fact, the post-80s players will also radiate great vitality. So, who exactly is this player? And how did he behave? Today, let the humble article take you to see it.

This player is Li Zhe! In his early years, he has been fighting hard in the doubles arena, and once won the men's doubles championship with his partner, and also reached the men's doubles final of the Asian Games. Later, because his hometown Tianjin was going to host the National Games, he needed the veteran to contribute, so Li Zhe resolutely sought a breakthrough in the singles arena. In 2018, he won the Australian Open Asia-Pacific Wild Card Tournament, becoming the first Chinese men's tennis player to reach the age of 30 and still reach the Grand Slam stage. Although he was swept out of the first round of the Australian Open in 2019, Li Zhe still came to the position of the first brother of Chinese men's tennis.

It's a pity that the years have passed, and now Li Zhe has long lost his original demeanor due to his age. As of this week, he has only won two Hope qualifiers and has yet to make it to the main draw of the Hope Tournament. Today, he is in his forties, and he has long been forgotten.

Under such circumstances, Li Zhe did not give up. This week he appeared as a wildcard in the Wuxi Challenger qualifier against Japan's Hiroki Moriya in the first round. Back in 2014, Hiroki Moriya won his first career Challenger title. Since then, he has competed in the Australian Open, Wimbledon and US Open. Although he no longer has the edge of the past, compared with Li Zhe, he undoubtedly has an advantage. Sure enough, in this game, Li Zhe only won two games in the first set. However, just when most people thought that Li Zhe would be completely defeated, he launched a counterattack, won two sets in a row, reversed and defeated his opponent, and was able to advance. It is worth mentioning that this is the first time since the 2025 season that Li Zhe has defeated a player ranked within 500.

In the decisive round of the qualifying round, Li Zhe's opponent was Japan's Yuki Mochizuki. This player has reached the finals of the Hope Tournament this season and has also won the main draw of the Challenger Tournament, so he is quite strong. In this game, Li Zhe lost another set first, and he did not give up when he was forced to the edge of the cliff, and immediately sent a fritter to his opponent with color in the second set, dragging the game into the deciding set, allowing himself to see the hope of victory again. In the deciding set, Li Zhe completely controlled the situation on the court, reversed and defeated his opponent, and entered the main match of the Wuxi Challenger.

In the first round of the main event, facing Japan's Shintaro Imai, who broke through in the qualifying round like himself, Li Zhe did not relent, defeating the Japanese player who had reached the semifinals of the Challenger twice in straight sets, and won three consecutive victories. At the same time, this is also the first time that Li Zhe has won three consecutive victories in the 2025 season. With these three consecutive wins, Li Zhe's world ranking has risen by more than 900 places, and he is close to reaching 1000.

Despite his best efforts in the second round of the Wuxi Challenger, Li Zhe still lost to Japan's Rio Noguchi, who had just won his first career Challenger title, and was unable to go any further. But being able to start from the qualifying round of the Wuxi Challenge, get a wave of three consecutive victories, and return to the field of vision of fans, has fully demonstrated Li Zhe's strength. Hopefully, in the days ahead, the veteran will be well, so let's wish him well here. That's it for today, and it will continue tomorrow.(Source: Tennis Home Author: Yixin Jushi)