Zhang Zhizhen of China returns a shot during a men's singles round of 16 match against Ramkumar Ramanathan of India at the 2019 Kunming Open tennis tournament in Anning, southwest China's Yunnan province, on April 18, 2019. (QIN QING / XINHUA)

Zhang Zhizhen will be the first Chinese man in the Open era to play in the main draw at Wimbledon next week after the world No. 178 booked his place by defeating Argentine Francisco Cerundolo 6-0 6-3 6-7(4) 7-6(6) in the qualifiers on Thursday.

The 24-year-old is only the fourth Chinese man to play singles in the main draw of a Grand Slam since the Open era began in 1968.

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Wu Di (2013, 2014, 2016), Zhang Ze (2014, 2015) and Li Zhe (2019) have all played at the Australian Open.

Wimbledon, the only Grand Slam to be canceled in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, will return in its usual slot this year with the main draw starting on June 28.

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