Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz are set to meet again at the Rolex Shanghai Masters but not in the final as both are in the same half of the draw so their prospective next clash within a fortnight will be in the semi-finals of the penultimate Masters event of the season.
I’ve been playing really good tennis lately so I want to just keep going and keep feeling it, keep feeling this good, Carlos Alcaraz
Alcaraz now leads his rival, the world No.1, by 6 wins to four, having won their last three consecutive matches and, following his victory in Beijing, has drawn closer to the Italian by regaining the second spot in the world rankings.
The two rivals were in action on Saturday as the seeds joined the schedule in the second round of the event having, out of necessity, shared a plane from Beijing to get to Shanghai following their gruelling three hour and 21-minute final played last Wednesday!
And while Sinner will no doubt be rueing his missed chances in Beijing, he is also worried about the WADA appeal against the ITIA’s decision not to ban him for the dope offences, however minor, he tested for last March for which he should have received a ban.
He is confident he will be absolved of any wrongdoing but admits he is not comfortable about it all.
“I’m still surprised,” Sinner said in Shanghai about the situation prior to his opening match.
“But I will collaborate like I did before. I had three hearings in which the three hearings went all my way, which was good. But now let’s see. But I’m very confident that it comes out very, very positively. I would be very, very surprised if it would be the opposite side.
“But it’s not in a situation where I feel comfortable in, that’s for sure, because I thought it was over. And now once again. So it’s not easy.”
He seems to be able to put it all behind when on court as he showed in Beijing when the news broke.
And it certainly didn’t hold him back in his opener in Shanghai as he crushed Japan’s Taro Daniel 6-1 6-4 blasting 12 aces past his opponent.
Sinner broke in the fourth game to go up 3-1, before he broke once more to love to close out the opening set comfortably.
He then came close to breaking in the opening game of the second set but Daniel managed to hold him off.
However the Japanese world No. 93’s defences were breached in his next service game, as Sinner converted his second break point to extend his advantage, with the Italian holding off a mini-fightback in the following game to consolidate the break.
Daniel weathered a storm at 3-2, saving four break points as Sinner sought to finish it off quickly but Daniel’s defensive play get him in the match bit not for long. The duo did exchange breaks but once Sinner reached match point, he converted without any problem.
Sinner faces Argentina’s Tomas Martin Etcheverry in the round three after the South American, seeded 31, finally dispatched the Dutchman Botic van de Zandschulp 7-6(5) 3-6 7-5.
Carlos Alcaraz is on a roll
(Photo by GREG BAKER/AFP via Getty Images)
Meanwhile Alcaraz continued his great form on Chinese hard courts taking out the local hero Juncheng Shang, the Chengdu champion, in his opening round 6-2 6-2.
Alcaraz, 21, broke his similarly aged opponent in the opening game which set the scene, securing a double break to go 5-2 up and gain the chance to serve out, which he duly did.
He maintained the pressure in the second set and produced an exquisite behind-the-back return in the second game which was much appreciated by the crowd and while Shang battled valiantly, he was unable to hold the new world No.2 back.
“I’ve been playing really good tennis lately so I want to just keep going and keep feeling it, keep feeling this good,” Alcaraz said. “I just had one practice then was straight into this match, so to be able to show this level in the first match, I’m just really proud.”
Alcaraz will face another Chinese player in the third round, Wu Yibing, a wildcard, who outplayed the 25th seeded Nicolas Jarry of Chile, 6-2 6-1.
In fact a lot of seeds have fallen so far including Arthur Fils, last week’s Tokyo champion, Felix Auger Aliassime, Sebastain Baez, Alejandro Tabilo, Casper Ruud, Andrey Rublev, last year’s Shanghai runner-up, and Brandon Nakashima.
The British challenge didn’t get off the starting line with both Dan Evans and Billy Harris getting eliminated in the opening round.
Evans came through the qualifying tournament and battled hard but couldn’t squeeze past Brazil’s Thiago Seyboth Wild who pipped him the deciding tie-break, 6-2 4-6 7-6(3).
Haris made the main draw as a Lucky Loser but couldn’t hold off Italy’s Mattia Bellucci who went through 6-3 6-4.
Unfortunately both Jack Draper and Cameron Norrie were injured and consequently were unable to play and joined the list of withdrawals which included Sebastian Korda, Alex de Minaur, Jan-Lennard Struff and the reigning champion, Hubert Hurkacz.
