A wild Wednesday at the Shanghai Rolex Masters saw a couple of minor upsets and one major one as a group of Race to London hopefuls took major blows to their bids as they were ousted in the second round in Shanghai. The round of sixteen field is now set, so let’s take a look back at what happened on day four at the Shanghai Rolex Masters.
Results
Andy Murray got off to a strong start in Shanghai, blowing past Steve john 6-3, 6-2. Check out the full recap here. In the third round, Murray will take on Lucas Pouille, who was victorious in his second round encounter with Nicolas Almagro. The win helped keep his outside hope of qualifying for the ATP World Tour Finals alive, although he’ll need an upset of Murray to really give it a boost. Check out the full recap here.
Stan Wawrinka got his campaign underway with a straight set win over Kyle Edmund. There were some shaky moments for the Swiss in the second set, but he persevered to take the match in two sets. Check out the full recap here. Wawrinka’s next opponent will be Gilles Simon, who blew past Di Wu in straight sets. After being broken to start the match, Simon never looked back, breaking his opponent three times in the first set and twice in the second on his way to a 6-2, 6-2 victory.
After an ankle injury ended his campaign in Beijing, Milos Raonic bounced back beautifully in his Shanghai opener, throwing down a lights-out serving performance to blow past Paolo Lorenzi in straight sets. Check out the full recap here. In the round of sixteen, Raonic will renew his one-sided rivalry with Jack Sock, who won a serving battle with Feliciano Lopez in three sets. There was only one break of serve in each set, with Sock scoring that key break in the first and third sets, hanging on for the win despite having to save three break points when serving for the match at the end of the third set.
The upset of the day saw Viktor Troicki score his first win over third seed Rafael Nadal in straight sets. Troicki went big on every shot and was rewarded, as he bullied the Spaniard around the court for the majority of the match, prevent Nadal from doing any damage to the Serbian’s serve. Check out the full recap here. Troicki will next take on 15th seed Roberto Bautista Agut, he broke once in each set to defeat American teen Taylor Fritz in straight sets.
Race to London hopefuls Tomas Berdych and Nick Kyrgios both suffered major blows to their bids with second round losses on Wednesday. Berdych, who could have moved into a qualifying spot by reaching the semifinals, was not broken in his second round match with Marcel Granollers, but came up short in a pair of tiebreaks, falling in straight sets 7-6(4), 7-6(1). Nick Kyrgios, who needed a title to reach the top eight, had one of his lack-of-effort days, winning only four games in a blowout loss to Mischa Zverev. Kyrgios appeared disinterested for much of the match and did not appear to be trying at all, including walking off the court in the middle of a rally at one point. He also eventually said to the umpire "can you call time so I can finish this match and go home?"
The only Race to London hopeful who was successful on Wednesday was David Goffin, who defeated Benoit Paire in straight sets. The Belgian dominated the opening set, breaking twice and taking it 6-1. The second set was much more intense, with the pair exchanging breaks twice before Goffin swept the ensuing tiebreak, taking it 7-0. With a title, Goffin will jump to seventh in the Race to London. Grigor Dimitrov’s outside hope of qualifying took a massive blow as he was upset in the second round by Vasek Pospisil. Check out the full recap here.
The third round of the Shanghai Rolex Masters will take place tomorrow.