3 Chinese men play at French Open; country’s 1st male entrants in Paris since 1937

By HOWARD FENDRICH
AP Tennis Writer

PARIS (AP) — China has placed entrants in the men’s draw of the French Open for the first time in 77 years. A total of three men from the country played opening-round matches on Monday. The first of the groundbreaking group in action on the red clay of the Grand Slam tournament at Roland Garros was Shang Juncheng, who made it into the field via qualifying and lost to Juan Pablo Varillas in five sets. Wu Yibing lost to No. 19 seed Roberto Bautista Agut of Spain in three sets. Zhang Zhizhen gave China its first man in the second round at the French Open since 1937 when his opponent, Dusan Lajovic of Serbia, stopped playing because of a stomach virus while trailing 6-1, 4-1.