Medvedev, Tsitsipas win Shanghai openers
Daniil Medvedev was in no mood for a second upset loss to Thiago Seyboth Wild at the Rolex Shanghai Masters Friday.
Down a break in the first and second sets, the former World No. 1 dug in at the baseline and allowed the flashy Brazlilian to author his own demise with 40 unforced errors to Medvedev’s 23, according to Infosys ATP Stats, in the 7-5, 7-5 result.
[ATP APP]Last year, Seyboth Wild stunned Medvedev in the first round of Roland Garros, when his high risk/high reward strategy of 69 winners and 77 unforced errors underpinned his victory.
“I’m happy I managed to stay composed in tough moments. He had a break in both sets. I managed to put on a lot of pressure and both times it worked at 5-all,” said Medvedev, who is fourth in the PIF ATP Live Race to Turin and next in line to qualify for the Nitto ATP Finals.
“I love Shanghai and I feel the people love me back. I enjoy it a lot so I want to stay as long as possible here.”
Medvedev next meets 29th-seeded Italian Matteo Arnaldi and is seeded to meet Tsitsipas in the fourth round.
Earlier, Stefanos Tsitsipas collected his 200th hard-court win and avenged a recent loss to Kei Nishikori when he defeated the former US Open finalist 7-6(6), 6-4 to reach the third round.
The 26-year-old Greek fell to Nishikori in the second round in Montreal in August but emerged victorious this time around to level his Lexus ATP Head2Head series with the Japanese to 2-2 and improve to 5-0 in Shanghai opening rounds. The Greek saved one set point in the first-set tie-break.
Tsitsipas is 12th in the PIF ATP Race to Turin and endeavoring to return to the eight-man Nitto ATP Finals, which he won in 2018. Tsitsipas finds himself outside the Turin cut after costly early exits at the past three Masters 1000s hard-court tournaments; he won just one match across Miami, Montreal and Cincinnati.
In the third round, Tsitsipas will play Frenchman Alexandre Muller.
Australian qualifier Aleksandar Vukic earned the biggest win of his career in convincing fashion. The 28-year-old upset eighth Casper Ruud 6-4, 6-4 after dropping just six points behind his first serve. Vukic struck the ball confidently in key moments and took an aggressive court position against the Norwegian.
Vukic, who next faces 30th seed Tomas Machac, fended off all three break points he faced and closed out both sets by holding to love. Entering Shanghai, Vukic had last four of his past five matches across all levels.
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