Upsets and Surprises in Opening Round of 2023 Rolex Shanghai Masters

The opening spherical on the 2023 Rolex Shanghai Masters is full, and it wasn’t a great day for the lads with six Grand Slams between them as each Stan Wawrinka and Andy Murray didn’t progress.

First to fall was Wawrinka, who had a trick opener towards Dusan Lajovic, who’s had a formidable yr, earlier than Murray fell to Roman Safiulin, who can also be a handful on laborious courts.

There was additionally some homegrown success as wildcard Yunchaokete Bu took out Kecmanovic, with the Serb retiring within the third set, whereas Chinese language primary Zhizhen Zhang was a cushty winner towards Richard Gasquet.

There have been additionally wins for 2 gamers from Chinese language Taipei (Taiwan when you desire, which is right, I don’t know) as qualifiers Yu Hsiou Hsu and Chun-Hsin Tseng progressed.

Spherical of 128 Rolex Shanghai Masters Outcomes

Winner
Loser
Scoreline

Matteo Arnaldi
Alexei Popyrin
4-6 6-3 6-4

Terence Atmane (Q)
Jordan Thompson
6-3 3-6 6-1

Gregoire Barrere
Nuno Borges
6-2 6-2

Yunchaokete Bu (WC)
Miomir Kecmanovic
6-7(6) 6-2 2-1 (RET)

Arthur Fils
Pavel Kotov
6-1 6-4

Marton Fucsovics
Denis Yevseyev (Q)
6-4 6-2

Cristian Garin
Aleksandar Kovacevic (Q)
6-4 7-6(10)

Marcos Giron
Daniel Elahi Galan
6-4 6-2

Quentin Halys
Aslan Karatsev
7-6(4) 3-6 6-2

Yannick Hanfmann
James Duckworth (Q)
6-4 6-7(10) 6-3

Rinky Hijikata (Q)
Laslo Djere
7-6(4) 7-5

Yu Hsiou Hsu (Q)
Max Purcell
7-6(5) 4-6 6-4

Thanasi Kokkinakis
Fabio Fognini (WC)
6-2 6-4

Mikhail Kukushkin (Q)
Alexandre Muller
6-7(6) 6-3 6-2

Dusan Lajovic
Stan Wawrinka
6-4 7-6(7)

Fabian Marozsan
Arthur Rinderknech
7-6(6) 6-2

Mackenzie McDonald
Corentin Moutet
6-2 6-3

Jaume Munar
Rigele Te (WC)
6-2 6-4

Brandon Nakashima
Bernabe Zapata Miralles
6-1 7-6(3)

Yoshihito Nishioka
Daniel Altmaier
6-4 3-6 7-6(2)

Sebastian Ofner
Juan Pablo Varillas
7-6(3) 7-6(6)

Roman Safiullin
Andy Murray
6-3 6-2

Diego Schwartzman (WC)
Luca Van Assche
5-7 6-3 6-2

Lorenzo Sonego
Philip Sekulic (Q)
6-3 6-2

Dane Sweeny (Q)
Taro Daniel
6-2 6-3

Chun-Hsin Tseng (Q)
Alexander Shevchenko
3-6 6-3 6-2

Botic van de Zandschulp
Christopher O’Connell
6-2 6-7(2) 6-4

Aleksandar Vukic
Roberto Carballes Baena
6-4 7-6(7)

Yosuke Watanuki
Juncheng Shang (WC)
7-6(7) 4-6 6-4

J.J. Wolf
Pedro Cachin
3-6 6-3 6-4

Zhizhen Zhang
Richard Gasquet
6-1 6-2

Beibit Zhukayev (Q)
Stefano Napolitano (Q)
7-5 7-5

Lajovic Downs Wawrinka

Dusan Lajovic continued his fantastic kind towards High 50 gamers this season, profitable the eighth of his final 9 matches towards them due to a 6-4, 7-6(7) victory over Stan Wawrinka.

Stan solely has a number of quarter-finals to his identify in Shanghai, so it’s one among his worst Masters 1000s. I used to be hopeful he’d be capable of go on a good run after a mean previous few occasions, however Lajovic proved too stable.

Murray Suffers Loss to Safiullin

Andy Murray’s poor run of kind continued as he fell to Roman Safiullin 6-3 6-2 within the opening spherical.

Murray is a three-time champion in Shanghai, however previous kind counts for little, and Safiullin is at the moment taking part in his finest tennis.

The Russian made the ultimate in Chengdu, the place Murray additionally misplaced within the first spherical, and he dominated the match from begin to end, with Murray solely capable of scramble backward and forward, providing little else.

Fast Ideas

This recap part is usually reserved for “different matches of be aware”, however in Shanghai, there are none.

After I scanned down the draw wanting on the first-round matches, I struggled to see the way it might be the primary spherical of a Masters 1000; the standard on supply was dreadful.

Given how the qualifying draw regarded equally poor, I used to be half anticipating it, however it’s nonetheless disappointing.

The explanation? Increasing the draw to create a two-week-long Masters 1000 event to rake in additional cash.

What’s the purpose when you’ve seen stronger fields in some Challengers this season?

Shanghai Masters Spherical of 64 Matches

What do you make of Shanghai up to now? Are the prolonged Masters 1000s turning right into a farce?