Chinese tennis player Bai Yan (left) defeated World No.30 Radek Stepanek at the Shanghai Masters Tuesday, while compatriot Zhang Ze (right), lost to World No.17 Ivan Ljubicic. Photos: IC

By Ni Dandan

Bai Yan of China defeated World No.30 Radek Stepanek of the Czeck Republic in a surprising win Tuesday at the Shanghai Masters, making him the first Chinese tennis player to advance to the second round of the ATP 1000 series tournament this year.

The 21-year-old Beijing native, ranked as World No.465, advanced over Stepanek, 6-3, 6-4, after 89 minutes of play, which he described as "the best game ever played in his life."

Bai, who was granted wild card entry into the competition, admitted to reporters after the game that he was surprised with his victory, but said that he may have benefited from being something of a newcomer.

"My advantage is that I'm young, so I don't have as much pressure in failing compared to the more experienced players," he said at a press conference at the Qi Zhong Tennis Center, following his win Tuesday.

The Shanghai Masters is the highest level of competitive tennis that Bai, who began training at the age of 6, has taken part in.

For his success, he will face World No.4 Andy Murray of Scotland today, who earlier assumed that his first game in this week's tournament would be against Stepanek. Murray had said that the thought of meeting the 31-year-old Czeck again made him nervous, after Stepanek beat him a year ago at the Paris Masters, 2-1.

A humble Bai said that he never expected Murray to consider him a likely opponent during the second round of the Shanghai Masters, saying that the Scot was a much better player than him.

"My goal is to give him a bit of pressure, but mostly, I just want to learn something from him during our match," said Bai.

Of the three other Chinese competitors at the Shanghai Masters, all of whom were also chosen via wild card selection, Zhang Ze was knocked out Tuesday by Ivan Ljubicic of Croatia. Another Chinese player will be out today, after the game between Wu Di and Lu Yanxun.

Former World No.1 Andy Roddick also advanced to the second round Tuesday, after leading 2-1 in the second set against Philipp Kohlschreiber of Germany, who retired from the match due to injury.