Federer Begins Shanghai Title Defence Wednesday Against Medvedev

Novak Djokovic controls his own destiny this week when it comes to the World No. 2 ranking. But an early loss by the Serbian in Shanghai would open the door for Roger Federer and Juan Martin del Potro to be No. 2 in the ATP Rankings on 15 October. Federer will remain No. 2 if he wins his third Rolex Shanghai Masters title and Djokovic does not reach the final. Del Potro will achieve a career-high No. 2 if he claims the Shanghai title and Djokovic does not advance to the semi-finals. In all other scenarios, Djokovic is assured a return to the Top 2 for the first time since June 2017. 

View FedEx ATP Head2Head for the following match-ups at the Rolex Shanghai Masters and vote for the players you think will win!
Federer v Medvedev | Del Potro v Gasquet | Zverev v Basilashvili

Federer begins his campaign on Wednesday against red-hot Russian Daniil Medvedev, who on Sunday captured his third career title at the ATP World Tour 500 event in Tokyo. Medvedev is 37-20 overall and 32-11 on hard courts in 2018, yet he’s seeking his first Top 10 win of the season against Federer. Del Potro is the only player on tour with more hard-court wins than Medvedev in 2018. The Argentine, who is 35-8 on hard courts this season, opens against Richard Gasquet.

Djokovic, Federer, Del Potro and World No. 1 Rafael Nadal will return to The O2 in London 11-18 November for the Nitto ATP Finals. Four spots remain and the next man in line to qualify is 21-year-old German Alexander Zverev. Already a three-time ATP World Tour Masters 1000 champion, Zverev faces a tough test when he opens play on Wednesday against Beijing champion Nikoloz Basilashvili. Also among the Nitto ATP Finals contenders are Kevin Anderson and Kei Nishikori, who compete for the first time this week against qualifier Mikhail Kukushkin and wild card Yibing Wu respectively.