China’s Bu Yunchaokete produced one of the US Open’s most surprising results so far, dominating rising Spanish star Rafael Jodar in straight sets.
Bu, ranked 124th, needed less than two hours to take down the 12th-seeded Jodar 6-2, 6-1, 6-1 in one of the most one-sided scorelines of this year’s championships.
A native of Xinjiang, Bu lost in the final round of qualifying, but was granted a spot as a ‘lucky loser’ when Australian Thanasi Kokkinakis withdrew with an injury.
Bu had finished his warmup Tuesday morning ahead of a planned flight that evening when he found out he could play. Now he’s in the second round against American Michael Zheng, a two-time US collegiate champion.
“Nothing you can lose with a lucky loser,” Bu said after the match, describing his approach as “enjoy the crowd and enjoy the court and play one of the best players in this year.”
The victory over Jodar was Bu’s first at the Grand Slam level after he went winless in six previous tries. “If I have to win my first match like this, I’m okay with the loss five, six times before,” he said. “So yeah, that’s great.”
He has spent much of 2026 in Challenger tournaments, a lower level from the main ATP Tour, winning two such events, both on grass.
Bu said he has worked to add more aggressive play to his game after originally developing a heavy-hitting style suited to clay courts after a period training in Spain. He described Britain’s Andy Murray as a tennis hero but also expressed admiration for Li Na, the first Chinese player to win Grand Slam singles tiles.
“We have a lot of great players in the women’s side, but men’s side it’s not that much,” said Bu.
Jodar said: “He played better than me, and that’s the reason why he won.”
AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
