Zhe the latest 36-year-old to enjoy a late-career milestone triumph
It’s been quite the month for 36-year-olds on the international tennis scene.
Novak Djokovic became the all-time men’s record holder for Grand Slam singles titles at Roland Garros, Andy Murray scooped back-to-back ATP Challenger titles for his first triumphs on grass in seven years... and then there’s the rather less heralded Li Zhe, who enjoyed a milestone moment of his own this weekend.
The 36-year-old from China won his first singles title in five years on the ITF World Tennis Tour on Sunday, adding a 15th ITF singles title to his career tally at M15 Tianjin after opponent Lee Kuan-Yi retired after dropping the opening set.
It was one of two retirements this week in favour of Zhe, who was forced to pull out of his own quarter-final contest at M25 Luzhou the previous week.
Zhe, who has played just four tournaments on the ITF World Tennis Tour in 2023, contested the main draw of the Australian Open in 2019 and has represented China, P.R. in 17 Davis Cup ties, but the former world No. 193 dropped outside the world’s top 1000 this year.
He capped his fine week in Tianjin by collecting his 54th professional doubles title.
Elsewhere last week, there were wins for Lebanon’s Hady Habib, who won his third title in his last four tournaments at M15 Monastir, and former US Open boys’ champion Omar Jasika.
The former junior world No. 6 collected his first title of 2023 at M15 Jakarta following a promising ‘redemption year’ in 2022 that saw him collect five titles on his return from a two-year suspension.
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Click here for all this week's men's results on the ITF World Tennis Tour