His straight-sets win in the second qualifying round on Sunday over Spanish veteran Albert Ramos-Vinolas, the tournament's 2017 finalist (beaten by Rafael Nadal), served up proof of Bu's quick adaptation to clay court tennis.

"Overall I feel pretty satisfied with my performance here. This was my first Masters main draw on clay after all, and it was already a tough accomplishment to make it into the draw," said Bu, who is based in Alicante, southwestern Spain, with his Spanish coach Ricardo Ojeda Lara for the majority of the season.

"I've learned a lot from the matches here; that playing on clay, you have to accept the ups and downs and shifts of momentum during a match. And that you have to stay focused and try to keep playing with quality."

Born in the remote Bortala Mongolian autonomous prefecture in Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, Bu learned how to ride horses long before he even had a clue what tennis was. But, now, he's joined China's top-ranked man Zhang Zhizhen, and young prodigy Shang Juncheng, as flag-bearers for his country in the elite echelons of the game.

His goal for his first full season on the ATP Tour in 2025, as stated last season, is to try to reach the top-50 by the end of the year.

"I will take it step-by-step, and see what I can do," said Bu, who will next play the ATP500 clay tournament in Munich, before further Masters challenges await in Madrid and Rome.