Nanjing, China, 22 October 2012 | Tennis Australia

China’s Wu Di and Yuxuan Zhang will both compete in the main draw of Australian Open 2013 after winning the inaugural Asia-Pacific Australian Open Wildcard Play-off in Nanjing, China on Sunday.

Wu Di defeated Thai No.3 seed Danai Udomchoke 7-6(1) 6-4 to secure his wildcard. On his way to the final the Wu toppled top seed Yuichi Sugita of Japan and No.4 seed and compatriot Ze Zhang.

The first set was a tight affair with a tiebreak required to split the players. Wu jumped to a fast start, taking the first five points and securing the opening set.

“The first set was very important. I think too much about the wildcard at the start,” Wu said after the match.

“Then in the tiebreak I played very relaxed and enjoyed the match. I am very happy that I have got this wildcard.”

Wu will now head to the Chinese Nationals before heading to Dijon, France to continue training for the Australian summer.

In the women’s final, qualifier Yuxuan Zhang put in a sterling performance to win over No.2 seed Qiang Wang of China 6-4 6-2 in one hour and 40 minutes.

In a tight first set, where both players struggled with nerves, Chinese teen sensation Zhang held serve in the ninth game and that was all she needed to seize the first set 6-4.

Both players held serve for the first four games of the second set until Zhang proved too strong, wining the final four games and taking out the set, and the match.

“I am very excited [that] I can get into the Australian Open main draw to Australia,” Zhang said.

“I hope I can play well there. Today is a really tough match and Wang is a good player so I am very happy. I play better and better this year so I hope I can [continue to] get better.”

Zhang’s remarkable year has seen her move almost 600 places in the world rankings since January.

She won six matches in this event alone, moving through qualifying and defeating top seed Kai-Chen Chang of Chinese Taipei on her way to the final.