Bu Yunchaokete[a] (born 19 January 2002) is a Chinese tennis player.
He has a career-high ATP singles ranking of world No. 69 achieved on 30 September 2024 and a doubles ranking of No. 274 achieved on 23 October 2023.[1] He is the current No. 3 Chinese player.[2]
Early life
Bu Yunchaokete was born in a Mongolian family from Bortala in northwestern Xinjiang. His father died when he was young, and his mother remarried. Following the Mongolian custom of attaching more importance to the paternal family, Bu Yunchaokete continued to live with his grandparents. But his grandparents did not know Mandarin, so in order to allow him to receive a better education in the city, he was sent to the Urumqi SOS Children's Village. At the age of 5 (2007), he was discovered by coach Luo Yong and sent to Huzhou, Zhejiang for training.[3]
Career
2023: Maiden Challenger title, first Masters win
He won his maiden Challenger title at the 2023 Seoul Open, defeating Aleksandar Vukic in straight sets. As a result, he moved close to 80 positions up at a new career-high ranking of No. 164 on 8 May 2023.[1]
2024: Grand Slam debut, first ATP 500 quarterfinal and top 100
He won his second Challenger at the 2024 Wuxi Open in China, defeating Egor Gerasimov and becoming the youngest Chinese player to win multiple titles at this level.[5] As a result he climbed 50 positions back up back to the top 200 at world No. 189 on 20 May 2024. Two months later, he reached the top 150 at No. 147 on 22 July 2024, following another Challenger title in Granby, Canada. He reached the top 125 following a semifinal showing at the 2024 Lincoln Challenger on 12 August 2024.
Ranked No. 123, he made his Grand Slam debut, after qualifying for the main draw at the US Open. He was defeated in the first round by Casper Ruud.
At the 2024 Hangzhou Open where he entered as a wildcard, he defeated Hugo Gaston and second seed Karen Khachanov to make his first ATP Tour quarterfinal becoming just the sixth Chinese player to accomplish the feat in the Open Era.[6][7] Next he defeated Mikhail Kukushkin to reach the first ATP Tour semifinal in his career. Next, he met compatriot Zhang Zhizhen in a historic all-Chinese ATP semifinal but lost in straight sets. As a result he moved into the top 100 in the rankings, on 23 September 2024 at world No. 96, becoming only the fourth Chinese player to reach the milestone.[8] At the 2024 China Open where he also received a wildcard he defeated this time his other compatriot Shang Juncheng recording his first ATP 500-level win[9] and stunned sixth seed Lorenzo Musetti making his first ATP 500 quarterfinal, only the second Chinese man to reach that far in the tournament.[10] He then upset fourth seed and world no. 6 Andrey Rublev for his first top 10 win, and became the first Chinese man to reach the semifinals and the first to claim multiple top 20 wins at a single event on hardcourt since the release of the ATP rankings in 1973.[11] He lost to world No. 1 Jannik Sinner in straight sets.[12] He received a wildcard for the 2024 Shanghai Masters for his debut at this tournament,[13][14] later changed to a special exempt entry as he was still competing in Beijing.
Davis Cup
He represents China at the Davis Cup, where he has a W/L record of 0–2.[15]
Name
According to the ATP Tour, his name is Buyunchaokete - one word - but goes by Bu or his English name, Bert.[16][17] His name on the websites of tennis' governing bodies, the ATP and the ITF Tours, is displayed as either Bu Yunchaokete or Yunchaokete Bu.
Record against top 10 players
Buyunchaokete has a 1-2 (33.33%) record against record against players who were, at the time the match was played, ranked in the top 10.[18]
China
Andrey Rublev
Aleksandar Vukic
Lloyd Harris
Térence Atmane
Gabriel Diallo
Mattia Bellucci
Ray Ho
Alberto Barroso Campos
Shintaro Imai
Edan Leshem
Mark Lajal
Charles Broom
Constantin Frantzen
