For the first time since 2019, the ATP Tour returns to Shanghai for the Rolex Shanghai Masters, which is now a 12-day event.

Top seed Carlos Alcaraz will be joined by Beijing finalists Daniil Medvedev and Jannik Sinner (who will play for that title on Wednesday) among the trophy favourites, with 19 of the Top 20 players in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings in the draw.

ATPTour.com looks at 10 things to watch at the season’s penultimate ATP Masters 1000.

1) Top Seed Alcaraz Seeks First Title Since Wimbledon: Carlos Alcaraz has enjoyed a strong hard-court campaign following his success at the All England Club, but despite a 14-4 record across four events, he is still seeking his first hard-court crown since Indian Wells. After a run to the Beijing semi-finals in his successful debut on Chinese soil, Alcaraz will open against Nuno Borges or Gregoire Barrere in Shanghai.

2) Defending Champion Medvedev Eyes More Chinese Success: Medvedev followed his US Open final run — which included a victory against Alcaraz in the semis — with another trip to the title match in Beijing. The Shanghai second seed won the previous staging of the ATP Masters 1000 without losing a set in 2019, when he beat Stefanos Tsitsipas and Alexander Zverev in the last two rounds. Medvedev will meet Cristian Garin or Aleksandar Kovacevic in his opener.

3) Can Sinner Continue Late-Season Surge?: Sinner won his first ATP Masters 1000 title in Toronto in August and reached the Beijing final earlier this week. Can he back up his big run in the Chinese capital, which included a dominant semi-final win against Alcaraz? Sinner’s Beijing success will see him compete in Shanghai at a new career-high Pepperstone ATP Ranking of World No. 4 and as a first-time member of the Top 5. The Italian will face Marcos Giron or Daniel Elahi Galan in his first match.

4) Zverev Aims For Third Straight Deep Run In China: A Shanghai finalist in 2019, Zverev enters the 2023 event on the back of a title in Chengdu and a semi-final showing in Beijing. His recent success has given him a cushion of more than 300 points in seventh place in the Pepperstone ATP Live Race To Turin, with Holger Rune and Taylor Fritz behind him.

5) Tsitsipas, Rune Look To Break Out Of Slumps: Stefanos Tsitsipas has not strung together consecutive singles wins since his run to the Los Cabos title in August, while Holger Rune has not done so since he reached the Wimbledon quarters. Rune snapped a four-match losing streak with a big win against Felix Auger-Aliassime in the Beijing opening round last week, only to be turned back by Grigor Dimitrov in the second round.

6) Zhang, Shang Lead Four Chinese Entrants: Zhang Zhizhen and Shang Juncheng are joined by fellow home favourites Te Rigele and Bu Yunchaokete in the main draw. World No. 60 Zhang is the lone direct entrant, while his three countymen all received wild cards. Zhang will meet Richard Gasquet in the first round, while the 18-year-old Shang meets Yosuke Watanuki for the right to face Taylor Fritz in the second round. Chinese World No. 100 Wu Yibing, who has not competed since his second-round US Open run, withdrew from Shanghai.

7) Fritz Heads Six American Seeds: The seventh-seeded Fritz is joined by 10th seed Frances Tiafoe, 12th seed Tommy Paul, 19th seed Ben Shelton, 26th seed Sebastian Korda and 29th seed Christopher Eubanks in the Shanghai draw. J.J. Wolf, Mackenzie McDonald, Brandon Nakashima, Giron and Kovacevic round out the American interest.

8) Ruud Among Four Top 10 Debutants: Half of the 32 seeds are making their Shanghai debuts, including four Top 10 players — Alcaraz, Rune, Sinner and Casper Ruud. Norway’s Ruud reached his first hard-court quarter-final of the season last week in Beijing, where his run was ended by Alcaraz.

9) Astana Champ Mannarino Seeks First Shanghai Win: Adrian Mannarino won the Astana title on Tuesday to go along with his Newport trophy from July, making this the Frenchman’s first season with multiple singles crowns. The 34-year-old is set to compete in Shanghai for the sixth time. He is seeking his first win at the event.

10) Dodig/Krajicek, Koolhof/Skupski Lead Doubles Draw: Fresh off their meeting in the Beijing final, the team of Ivan Dodig and Austin Krajicek and the duo of Wesley Koolhof and Neal Skupski will again be the top two seeds in Shanghai. Their Wednesday meeting in Beijing will determine who enters Shanghai atop the Pepperstone ATP Live Doubles Teams Rankings.

Buyunchaokete is one of several Chinese tennis players on the rise. This time last year, the Xinjiang native, who goes by just one name, was No. 342 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings. He won six ITF World Tennis Tour events in 2022 and has since enjoyed more playing opportunities on the ATP Challenger Tour.

The 21-year-old, who is now World No. 187, is set to make the next big step in his rapid rise: playing his first ATP Tour event at the Rolex Shanghai Masters.

“I feel great. It’s really near to my home. My first time playing ATP in China, it feels amazing,” Buyunchaokete said. “I feel really excited and I don’t feel much pressure. I just want to enjoy it here.”

The wild card Buyunchaokete has found success on the ATP Challenger Tour this season, reaching three semi-finals, including a title run in April in Seoul. “That feeling was just so special,” he stated. 

When Buyunchaokete triumphed in Seoul, he became the third Chinese player to win an ATP Challenger Tour title aged 21 and under. Wu Yibing (2017) and Shang Juncheng (2022) both did it aged 17.

Now based out of Alicante, Spain, where he trains at the Ferrero Tennis Academy, ‘Bu’ is relishing the opportunity to be back in China, where the home hope will meet Serbian Miomir Kecmanovic in the opening round.

“I’ve known him since I was 14 years old. I saw him win the [2016] Orange Bowl, he beat [Wu Yibing] in the final,” Buyunchaokete said. “After juniors, I saw him in the Top 100 in one or two years. He’s a really good guy, tough guy. I just want to play my best tennis against a Top 50 guy, it’s really tough.”

The lone Top 50 opponent ‘Bu’ has played is Andy Murray, whom he pushed to two tight sets at this year’s Surbiton Challenger. The three-time major champion had kind remarks about ‘Bu’ following their clash.

“He’s a high energy, positive guy. If you look at results from last year, I think he played more than 100 matches last year, which is pretty rare,” Murray said in June. “I think he’s going to be a good player.” 

Boasting a 19-14 season record on the ATP Challenger Tour, Buyunchaokete will now aim for a maiden victory at tour-level on Wednesday. Should he advance, he will meet 26th seed Sebastian Korda in the second round.

Did You Know?
Buyunchaokete is one of four Chinese men in the Rolex Shanghai Masters draw, alongside Zhang Zhizhen, Shang Juncheng, and Te Rigele.

Tuesday semi-final victories for each of the top two seeds at the China Open set up a marquee final in Beijing.

Top seeds Ivan Dodig and Austin Krajicek won their second straight Match Tie-break at the ATP 500, edging fourth seeds Santiago Gonzalez and Edouard Roger-Vasselin 4-6, 7-5, 10-6. The Croatian-American duo is seeking its fifth tour-level title of a sensational 2023 season that includes triumphs at Roland Garros and in Monte-Carlo.

Second seeds Wesley Koolhof and Neal Skupski have yet to drop a set this year in Beijing. The reigning Wimbledon champions continued their dominant run in the Chinese capital with a 7-6(3), 6-2 win against Karen Khachanov and Andrey Rublev.

Wednesday’s final will double as a shootout for first place in the Pepperstone ATP Live Doubles Teams Rankings. Dodig and Krajicek currently have a 160-point lead in their bid to finish the season as the ATP Tour’s No. 1 team.

The two teams have met once before this season, with Dodig/Krajicek winning in the Adelaide 2 semi-finals in January.

Throughout the 2023 season, ATP Uncovered asked players to showcase their tennis knowledge by making predictions for the year. As the campaign nears its conclusion, and the Pepperstone ATP Live Race To Turin heats up, we take a look back to see who made the best picks.

There was plenty of love for Andrey Rublev, who had three backers choose him as a first-time ATP Masters 1000 champion — in addition to himself… sort of.

“Hopefully I can win at least one. Someday, some year, some life,” Rublev told the cameras in what seemed more like a wish than a prediction. Either way, it came true when he won Monte-Carlo.

Rafael Nadal was among three players to correctly predict Jannik Sinner’s first ATP Masters 1000 title. The 22-year-old defeated Alex de Minaur to win the Toronto crown in August, finally picking up a trophy at the prestigious level after defeats in the Miami final in both 2021 and 2023.

Among the other topics: dark horse, Top 10 breakthrough, and surface-specific predictions. Carlos Alcaraz’s grass-court sweep at The Queen’s Club and Wimbledon proved a surprise to many — but not Andy Murray — while one player was brave enough to pick Daniil Medvedev to claim his first clay-court title.

Find out whose risky pick was vindicated by “Mr. Octopus” winning the Rome title in the video below.

Jannik Sinner completed a methodical turnaround against Carlos Alcaraz on Tuesday in the China Open semi-finals to become the first player to register four tour-level wins against the Spaniard. With a 7-6(4), 6-1 victory, the Italian improves to 4-3 in the pair’s Lexus ATP Head2Head and rises to No. 4 in the Pepperstone ATP Live Rankings, setting himself up for a new career high.

Sinner will become the second Italian in the history of the Pepperstone ATP Rankings to reach the Top 5, joining Adriano Panatta.

Now 5-3 this season in semi-finals, Sinner will meet Daniil Medvedev in Wednesday’s final, when the Italian will bid for his third tour-level singles title of 2023 and his ninth overall. The 22-year-old is 0-6 against Medvedev, including a pair of final defeats this season in Rotterdam and Miami.

Following his second win against Alcaraz in three meetings this season, the Italian talked up the pair’s blossoming Lexus ATP Head2Head rivalry.

“For sure in the very top [of the big matches I’ve played],” he said of Tuesday’s win. “I would say every match against him is very tough. We always show great respect, we both play great. When we play against each other, we try to stay on our limits.

“Today I played a little bit better in the important moments. In the second set, it was 6-1 but he had a lot of chances and I just tried to stay focussed. And obviously the first set was a little more of a roller coaster and I tried to stay there mentally and obviously I’m very happy with the performance.”

Sinner twice trailed by a break in the opening set and fought off two break points to avoid a disaster 0-3 start in Beijing. From midway through the one-hour, 13-minute set, he began to take control of the match with brilliant directional control from the baseline and what finished as a perfect 15-for-15 mark on net points.

After winning a tie-break in which he never trailed, Sinner broke to open set two and then fought off a combined five break points in consecutive return games to build a 3-1 lead. Those battling holds seemed to break Alcaraz’s spirit, as Sinner rattled off four games in succession to close out the match. The Italian benefitted from 20 forehand unforced errors from Alcaraz, with that wing beginning to show cracks in the opening tie-break.

“I think the execution went really well,” Sinner said of his game plan. “Mostly trying to stay aggressive, because when he has a lot of time he he plays really good and really aggressive.”

Alcaraz had not lost a set en route to the semi-finals. He fell to 9-4 against the Top 10 this season with the defeat.

All three of this season’s Lexus ATP Head2Head meetings between Sinner and Alcaraz have come in semi-finals, with Alcaraz winning in Indian Wells and Sinner triumphing in Miami.

Daniil Medvedev extended his Lexus ATP Head2Head advantage in his longrunning rivalry with Alexander Zverev on Tuesday to advance to China Open final.

With a 6-4, 6-3 victory, Medvedev advanced to his eighth tour-level final of the season. Already owning a personal-best five titles this year, he will seek to add to that tally against Carlos Alcaraz or Jannik Sinner in Wednesday’s final.

“It’s an amazing, strong field so it’s great to be in the final against one of the amazing Sinner or Alcaraz,” he said post-match.

“I’m really happy with my level. Roof closed, different conditions today, much faster. Both of us are big servers so it came down to just a few opportunities and I managed to serve better when I had break points to save than he did.”

Medvedev improves to 10-7 in his series with Zverev, including a 4-1 mark this season. He has now won five of their past six meetings and nine of their last 11 following an 0-4 start in the Lexus ATP Head2Head. His Beijing victory also served as a measure of revenge after Zverev won their most recent previous meeting in Cincinnati.

In a semi-final filled with lung-busting rallies, Medvedev saved all four break points he faced (two in each set) with strong serving, and he secured a late break in each set to earn the win. The second seed claimed both breaks in style with a pair of clutch passing shots, including on set point in the opening set.

“In a way it’s a lucky shot because you’re not going to make it 10 out of 10. On a good day, maybe five out of 10. But still, you usually don’t hit it maybe twice in a match,” Medvedev said of the shot that sealed the first set.

“I felt that he might go down the line so I just ran for it — and I knew that if I give him the volley from that position then I have no chance, so I had to go for the winner. I made this banana shot which I don’t do that often, so I’m really happy with this one.”

The second seed finished with 20 winners and 13 unforced errors. His unrelenting defence frustrated Zverev, who hit just 10 winners to 20 unforced errors.

Through to his 35th tour-level final, Medvedev is bidding for his 21st title across as many different events. Zverev, who won the Chengdu title last week, saw his seven-match winning streak come to an end as he fell short in his effort to reach his third final of the season (2-0). 

While Medvedev has already clinched his place at the Nitto ATP Finals, Zverev cemented his seventh-place standing in the Pepperstone ATP Live Race To Turin with his Beijing semi-final run. He now has a 305-point cushion ahead of the eighth-placed Holger Rune.

Did You Know?
The five Lexus ATPHead2Head meetings this season between Medvedev and Zverev are the most for any opponents.

Adrian Mannarino became the first Frenchman since 2020 to win multiple tour-level titles in one season on Tuesday when he earned a 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 comeback victory against Sebastian Korda in the Astana Open final.

The 35-year-old trailed Korda by a set and a break but rallied, winning five consecutive games to level the match before outlasting the American in the lengthy exchanges in the decider to clinch his fourth tour-level title.

Mannarino, who also triumphed in Newport earlier this year, fell in the Astana title match against John Millman in 2020. He ensured he would not suffer more heartbreak at the ATP 250 event, defeating Korda after two hours and 10 minutes in the pair’s first Lexus ATP Head2Head meeting.

“At the beggining of the match I was not feeling my best,” Mannarino said. “I was a little tight. And then when I was down in the second set I started to try and enjoy the match and play with less stress. I tried some tough shots and it worked out pretty well. I got a bit lucky to come back in the second set and then in the third set I was feeling better. I am pretty happy with that match.”

The Frenchman has earned a personal-best 37 tour-level wins this year, surpassing his previous career-high of 33 in 2017. With his latest win, Mannarino has climbed to No. 23 in the Pepperstone ATP Live Rankings, just one spot off his career-high No. 22.

Korda was aiming to win his first title since Parma in 2021. The American, currently No. 26 in the Pepperstone ATP Live Rankings, has now lost all five tour-level finals he has played on hard courts. Earlier this year the 23-year-old held championship point against Novak Djokovic in Adelaide before falling.

Nathaniel Lammons and Jackson Withrow continued their standout season together on Tuesday at the Astana Open, where they defeated fourth seeds Mate Pavic and John Peers 7-6(4), 7-6(7) to win their fourth tour-level title of the year.

The Americans won 81 per cent (42/52) of their first-serve points and saved two set points in the second set, eventually advancing on their third match point after one hour and 38 minutes.

With their title run at the ATP 250, the second seeds have boosted their hopes of qualifying for the Nitto ATP Finals. Lammons and Withrow are currently eighth in the ATP Live Doubles Teams Rankings, 158 points ahead of ninth-placed team Hugo Nys and Jan Zielinski.

Earlier this year Lammons and Withrow captured titles on hard courts in Atlanta and Winston-Salem and on grass in Newport.

Pavic and Peers were teaming for the first time this week. They advanced to the final without dropping a set but were unable to capitalise on return in the crucial moments against Lammons and Withrow.

Pavic, 30, lifted the trophy with Nikola Mektic in Astana last season. Peers was chasing his second title of 2023 after triumphing with Marcelo Melo in Halle.