Who is Bu Yunchaokete? Chinese rising star +27 in ATP rankings after Jannik Sinner duel booked

Top seeds Jannik Sinner, Carlos Alcaraz and Daniil Medvedev have all reached the semi-finals of the China Open – but a surprising face will be joining them in Beijing.

Few would have predicted Chinese wildcard Bu Yunchaokete would advance to the last four, but the world number 96 defied the odds to reach that round – and faces Sinner tomorrow.

The 22-year-old has cemented his place as one of the hottest prospects on the ATP Tour, but how did he get to this point?

We take a look at his journey so far.

Personal life and early tennis origins

Yunchaokete was born in January 2002 in Xinjiang, part of Bortala Mongol Autonomous Prefecture, northwest China, into a family of ethnic Mongolian heritage.

His father sadly passed away when he was young, and he was largely raised by his paternal grandparents during his early years.

However, since his grandparents did not speak Mandarin, they sent him to an SOS Children's Village in Urumqi to receive formal education.

He started playing tennis there, was eventually discovered by a coach and moved to Huzhou to train.

Constant progress

Yunchaokete has made great strides in recent weeks, but signs of his potential have emerged over the last two seasons.

In April 2023 he defeated Aleksandar Vukic to win his first Challenger title in Seoul and won further Challenger tournaments in Wuxi and Granby in 2024.

He also picked up his first Masters 1000 match win in Shanghai last year, defeating Miomir Kecmanovic as a wildcard to advance to the second round.

Then, right at the end of that summer, Yunchaokete made his Grand Slam debut at the US Open.

He successfully survived three qualifying rounds to secure his first place in the main draw, losing in straight sets to eighth seed and former finalist Casper Ruud.

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Hangzhou Run

Before his success in Beijing, Yunchaokete impressed at the Hangzhou Open last week.

The Chinese received a wildcard into the main draw of the ATP 250 tournament and defeated Hugo Gaston in round one before defeating second seed Karen Khachanov in three sets.

The 22-year-old then pushed past Mikhail Kukushkin to reach the last four, where he faced Zhang Zhizhen in the first all-Chinese semifinal in ATP Tour history.

Yunchaokete was beaten by Zhizhen in straight sets, although in that run he cracked the top 100 of the ATP rankings and reached his current peak of No. 96 in the world rankings.

First top 10 win

The 22-year-old then went straight to the China Open, where he once again experienced a wave of home support and became the first domestic player to reach the last four in the men's singles draw.

Yunchaokete started with a three-set victory over compatriot Jerry Shang before losing just six games to secure the first top-20 win of his career with a 6-2, 6-4 win over sixth seed Lorenzo Musetti.

It was the biggest win of his career until Monday, when he beat fourth seed and world No. 6 Andrey Rublev 7-5, 6-4 to reach the last four.

“I was super nervous, but it's super exciting because I had so many fans supporting me,” he said.

“Maybe there was a little advantage for me because Andrey had a first game in the morning and a second game in the evening.

“I would like to thank all the fans here who support me and give me this energy – which makes me play good tennis here.”

The victory over Rublev catapults him up 27 places in the ATP live rankings to number 69 in the world – but he faces one of the biggest tests possible next.

The defending champion and world number 1, Sinner, is waiting in the semi-finals, the game is scheduled to take place tomorrow.

“When we played the juniors in Italy, he beat me in about an hour, maybe 6-1, 6-2. He is already world No. 1 and (a) two-time Grand Slam champion.

“I’m really excited and really looking forward to tomorrow.”

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