Back-to-back championships, Milan's doubles world ranking hits a new career-high breakthrough

It is widely recognized that the Hope Tournament represents the lowest level of tennis competitions. Consequently, Chinese players participating in this tournament rarely attract attention, with fans usually concentrating on singles matches. This leads to many Chinese doubles players at the Hope Tournament remaining relatively obscure.

Nevertheless, most Chinese players continue to compete in the Hope Tournament. In the 2025 season, post-2007 Chinese female tennis players such as Zhu Chenting, Geng Xinle, and Sun Xinran have already achieved impressive results at the Hope Tournament. Therefore, paying attention to Chinese players competing in the Hope Tournament is essentially focusing on the future of Chinese tennis.

Over the past two weeks, a Chinese female tennis player has made a new career breakthrough in doubles at the Hope Tournament. So, who exactly is this Chinese female player? And what kind of breakthrough has she achieved? Today, let this article take us to find out.

This Chinese female tennis player is Milan, born in 2004. She had only once reached a Hope Tournament final back in August. Unfortunately, in that final, Milan fought hard over three sets but lost to Serbian player E. Milovanovic, settling for runner-up. Her doubles performance was also underwhelming; before this month, Milan had never advanced to a doubles final.

In early December, Milan teamed up with Greek player Saklariti as the third seeds at the Monastir Hope Tournament held in Tunisia. In the first round, they faced the German player Boller and Italian player C. Gennaro duo. After dropping the first set, Milan and Saklariti rallied to win the next two sets, narrowly advancing; in the second round, they dominated the Chinese pair Ma Ruoxi and Chen Yiru, reaching the Hope Tournament women's doubles semifinals for the second time in the 2025 season.

In the semifinals, Milan and Saklariti delivered a flawless performance, sweeping the Italian player A. Urso and Russian player A. Efremova team without conceding a game, advancing to their first Hope Tournament women's doubles final of the 2025 season. In the final against the Italian duo L. Luciano and C. Gasparini, they maintained control throughout, winning in straight sets 6–3, 6–4 to claim the championship. Notably, this marks Milan’s first-ever Hope Tournament women's doubles title in her career.

Unfortunately, because the Hope Tournament is the lowest tier in tennis, live broadcasts are scarce and it receives little attention, so there are almost no photos of Milan, this Chinese female tennis player, available online. Due to this, the author can only use images of other players as substitutes and hopes for your understanding.

Last week, Milan again partnered with Saklariti as the top seeds at the Hope Tournament held in Tunisia. In the first round, they swept past the Chinese player Ruan Ziying and Maltese player M. Magro, advancing smoothly; in the second round, Milan and Saklariti won in straight sets against the Chinese pair Ma Ruoxi and Chen Yiru, reaching the semifinals; in the semifinals, they allowed the Italian duo C. Gasparini and C. Faustini to take only one game, smoothly advancing to the final; in the final, Milan and Saklariti grew stronger as the match progressed, defeating the Egyptian player Y. Ezzat and Russian player A. Arifullina team 6–2, 6–2 to win the championship.

These consecutive two weeks of winning the Hope Tournament doubles titles have propelled Milan’s doubles world ranking to 787, the highest doubles ranking she has achieved since turning professional. In singles, she has also reached a new career-high ranking. Hopefully, Milan will continue to perform well in future competitions and achieve excellent results. That’s the tennis story for today; stay tuned for more tomorrow. (Source: Tennis Home Author: Yixin Jushi)