Hello from Shanghai where Jamie Murray and I are into the quarterfinals! It’s a very big tournament, a tournament that I really enjoy, so I want to stay till the end.

It’s been an amazing year. It’s the first season me and Jamie are playing together. When we got together at the end of last year, both of us were close to winning Slams before, but we didn’t have one. Of course, once you partner with someone, there’s this belief that you’re going to do well. But to bring that into the court was a completely different thing.

We played each other so many times before so we knew how to work with each other’s game and success came really fast. In our first three tournaments, we won Sydney, and then went on to win Melbourne, our first Slam. And now, for us to win the US Open, too, it’s more than we asked for. It’s been amazing. It’s been really nice to play with Jamie. He was a good friend before, and now he became a good friend and my partner, so we’ve been having a lot of success but also a lot of fun on- and off-court.

People say a doubles team is like a marriage and in my case, that’s 100% true. For me, I feel the off-court is as important as the on-court. You wake up, you do practice, you’re tired, you’re jet-lagged and then you play. You win, you lose, you’ve got to deal with so many emotions and you’ve got to be able to do that with your partner. For me, it’s exactly like a marriage. It’s important to have a connection.

Read the rest of Bruno’s blog on the Shanghai Rolex Masters website

Two-time former champion Andy Murray was solid on first serve at the Shanghai Rolex Masters on Thursday when he booked a place in the quarter-finals with a 6-1, 6-3 victory over No. 13 seed Lucas Pouille.

Murray will next challenge sixth seed Gael Monfils or No. 11 seed David Goffin, who are both attempting to clinch a spot at the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals, to be held at The O2 in London from 13-20 November, for the first time.

Murray capitalised on Pouille’s inexperience, moving towards the net to finish points when the Frenchman floated back sliced backhands. The Scot won the first five games, broke in the first game of the second set and won 95 per cent of his first service points. He converted his third match point opportunity for victory in 78 minutes.

Murray, who has picked up five titles this year – including at the China Open (d. Dimitrov) last week, has a 62-9 match record and is battling Novak Djokovic to finish year-end No. 1 in the Emirates ATP Rankings.

With five players already locking in their spots for the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals, Thursday’s action at the Shanghai Rolex Masters will see sixth seed Gael Monfils and No. 11 seed David Goffin square off in a third-round clash that is crucial for both of their chances to qualify for London for the first time.

Monfils is currently No. 6 in the Emirates ATP Race to London with 3,535 points, while Goffin is No. 11 with 2,465 points. The Frenchman is 665 points ahead of No. 9 Berdych in the Emirates ATP Race to London, while Goffin trails No. 8 Dominic Thiem by 740 points. The winner on Thursday will receive at least 180 Emirates ATP Rankings points for a quarter-final showing. The 90 points hinging on the outcome would be enough for Goffin to overtake Marin Cilic and break into the Top 10 of the race.

Goffin is on a run of form having finished runner-up last week at the Rakuten Japan Open Tennis Championships 2016, while Monfils has posted a 23-4 record since Wimbledon. The Frenchman leads his FedEx ATP Head2Head rivalry over Goffin 1-0, with the lone win coming this summer in the third round of the Rogers Cup. Goffin could rise as high as No. 7 by winning the championship on Sunday. Although the Belgian won his only two ATP World Tour titles more than two years ago at Kitzbühel and Metz in 2014, he will be highly motivated to continue closing the gap as he bids for a spot in London.

A banner year for Alexander and Mischa Zverev has only gotten better at the Shanghai Rolex Masters, where both brothers will be in third-round action. The Zverevs are the first siblings in the Round of 16 of an ATP Masters 1000 event since Olivier and Christophe Rochus at 2006 Miami. Mischa, 29, qualified for his ninth tour-level event of 2016, tying seven other players for the most in a single season since 1990. The German is scheduled to play Stockholm qualifying this weekend should he not beat Marcel Granollers and reach the semi-finals.

Alexander, 19, upset Stan Wawrinka in St. Petersburg last month to become the youngest player and first teenager to win an ATP World Tour title since 2008. With a victory over 2015 Shanghai finalist Jo-Wilfried Tsonga on Thursday, the #NextGen star would reach his first ATP Masters 1000 quarter-final.

Another player seeking his maiden ATP Masters 1000 quarter-final is American Jack Sock, who faces fifth seed Milos Raonic on Union Pay 3. Raonic has won eight straight FedEx ATP Head 2 Head matches against Sock. If he makes it nine, the Canadian will have reached the quarter-finals of all nine ATP Masters 1000s in his career.

Three other men still in the Shanghai draw have already accomplished that feat: Top seed Novak Djokovic, second seed Andy Murray and Monfils. On Thursday, the defending champion Djokovic clashes with Canadian qualifier Vasek Pospisil, who has won back-to-back main draw matches this week for the first time all season. Murray meets Metz champion Lucas Pouille, who would rise to No. 13 in the Emirates ATP Race to London with his sixth Top 10 win of the season.

Seven of the 16 seeds were upset in the first or second round, leaving seven players who’ve reached no more than one ATP Masters 1000 quarter-final respectively: A. Zverev (0 QFs), M. Zverev (2009 Rome QF), Sock (0 QFs), Pospisil (2013 Montréal SF), Pouille (2016 Rome SF), Viktor Troicki (2011 Monte-Carlo QF) and Roberto Bautista Agut (2014 Madrid SF). Troicki and Bautista Agut will play a rematch of their Winston-Salem semi-final, which the Spaniard led by a set and 5-0 before surviving 7-5, 6-7(2), 6-2. Play concludes on Stadium Court with third seed Wawrinka meeting Gilles Simon, who like Pospisil, has lost his last 10 matches against Top 10 opponents. Simon defeated Wawrinka en route to the 2014 Shanghai final, but lost to the Swiss here in 2010.

The doubles quarter-finals begin on Thursday and include 2014 Shanghai champions Bob and Mike Bryan. Shanghai is the lone ATP Masters 1000 event that the Bryans have won only once. Should they capture the title without a walkover this week, the American twins will become the first doubles team to reach 1,000 victories. 

Jamie Murray and Bruno Soares would pass Pierre-Hugues Herbert and Nicolas Mahut, the No. 1 team in the Emirates ATP Doubles Race to London, by winning their Shanghai quarter-final on Friday. Murray and Soares have yet to play a point after receiving a first-round bye and a second-round walkover. A win in the quarter-finals would also make Soares the 50th World No. 1 in the 40-year history of the Emirates ATP Doubles Rankings. Yesterday’s media notes incorrectly stated that Murray, not Soares, could become World No. 1 this week.