Ready to come out swinging

After making his name with a late-season surge last year, China's ATP Tour rookie Buyunchaokete has learned that, to play better, he has to play less — and more aggressively — on the competitive men's circuit.

A year ago, few even knew how to correctly pronounce his name, and now he's proudly flying the flag for Chinese men at the game's elite level as the country's highest-ranked ace this week, entering the annual "China Swing" on the professional calendar.

Buyunchaokete, ranked No 74 in the world, has had an up-and-down campaign in his first full season competing on the ATP Tour, underlined by two inspiring quarterfinal runs and disappointing first-round exits at all four majors, with his talent, drive and lack of experience at the top level all fully exposed.

"I think I've done a pretty good job playing my first season all at Tour-level tournaments, having accumulated almost the same amount of ranking points as I had around the same time last year, when I mainly played on the second-tier Challenger series," Buyunchaokete, known as "Little Bu" by his fans, told China Daily last week.

"The intensity of matches is a lot higher, and there is more pressure and much less room for mistakes in matches at this level (compared to last year)," Bu said of the challenge of competing on the ATP Tour.

"Your opponents are much better at exploiting all of your tiny little errors in matches to turn the tide, and then, once you have conceded a few key points in a row, you no longer stand a chance.

"All in all, I am dealing with a tougher battle now, and I still manage to survive, doing as almost well as I did last year at the same point in the season, which means I have improved all-around."

After representing his country in a Davis Cup World Group II first-round tie against Ireland over the weekend, Bu is tuning up for a critical stretch of home tournaments, beginning with the ATP 250 Hangzhou Open, where he swings off his main draw action on Wednesday.

The 23-year-old, who hails from the Mongolian ethnic group in Northwest China, will then embrace a tougher test at the ATP 500 China Open from the qualifying round, before he bids for a strong finish of the home series at the ATP 1000 Rolex Shanghai Masters early next month.

It was during the same period last year when Bu made his presence felt big-time on the tour by fighting into back-to-back semifinals in Hangzhou and Beijing, becoming the first Chinese man to enter the final-four at the ATP 500 China Open (Beijing) and the first to reach that stage twice in a row on the ATP Tour.

So, from now on, each match counts if he is to keep up with the scintillating pace he showed last fall, as Bu looks for another strong finish to the year.

"The upcoming China Swing gets everyone excited, including myself, knowing that I did a great job here last season — but it also brings pressure," said Bu, who stunned former world No 3 Stefanos Tsitsipas in the second round at Winston-Salem in North Carolina last month, on his run all the way to the quarters at the ATP 250 event.

Bu's 6-3, 6-2 rout of the Greek six-time major semifinalist provided a glimpse of his prime game, dictating the play with his relentless firepower and aggressive returns to the opponent's second serves.

By outplaying Mariano Navone in another straight-sets win the next round, Bu reached his second quarterfinals, following his first final-eight appearance at the same level in January in Montpellier, France.

He's approaching the high-stakes home swing with confidence.

"I am optimistic and I trust myself, because I've had a solid week practicing and recovering for the China Swing in Hangzhou," Bu said before flying to Dublin to join Team China for his Davis Cup duty.

Ending the China Swing with or without another surprising run, Bu said he's already had a fruitful debut year on the Tour, learning how to play smart in the right way.

"Reflecting on the season so far, I think I've overplayed myself during certain stretches of the season," said Bu, who's played 25 Tour-level tournaments this year, plus one on the Challenger series, more than the 16-18 events an average ATP player signs up for per season.

"I had to rush from one tournament to another because I'd signed up to more events than I actually needed to play.

"This hectic itinerary affected my preparations for events that really mattered," said Bu, citing his opening-round loss to 90th-ranked Frenchman Valentin Royer at the US Open, right after his deep run at Winston-Salem.

Looking to the future, Bu said he's going to pick fewer tournaments in 2026, but prepare better for the ones he signs up to, and play the matches with more firepower.

"I've analyzed my matches together with my new coach (Xavier Malisse), and he's made a difference already by helping me improve my service and encouraging me to play more aggressively on key points to go for the winners," Bu said of Malisse, the Belgian former world No 19.

sunxiaochen@chinadaily.com.cn