Viktor Troicki recovered from the loss of the first set to Pablo Cuevas of Uruguay to prevail 2-6, 6-4, 6-4. Cuevas broke twice at the end of the first set to win by a commanding margin. Troicki though, then broke in the second set as Cuevas served at four-five, to level affairs. Troicki broke to lead four-two in the final set, only to see Cuevas peg him straight back.
Troicki then repeated his trick of set two, breaking at five-four after Cuevas had failed to close out forty-fifteen. Troicki now leads the head-to-head 3-0. He will face Roland Garros champion Stan Wawrinka in the second round. Wawrinka comes into Shanghai in excellent form, winning the title in Tokyo last week. Both of their career meetings have come on clay, with Wawrinka the winner on both occasions.
Earlier in the day, Richard Gasquet put his poor Tokyo tournament behind him. dispatching the in form Gilles Muller of Luxembourg in straight sets, 7-6, 6-2. Gasquet had gone done in Beijing in round one to Roberto Bautista-Agut in Tokyo. He will face Canadian Vasek Pospisil in round two. Pospisil was a straight sets victor over Simone Bolelli. David Ferrer is also in Gasquet’s side of the draw.
Kevin Anderson negotiated the tricky wildcard opponent that was Tommy Haas in a relatively straightforward 6-3, 7-5 victory. Haas had had a chance to break at fifteen-thirty in the second set, only to see Anderson whip some aces past him to hold. Anderson hit an impressive twenty-two aces in the two sets to progress. Anderson received treatment for a right shoulder injury between sets, but it did not prevent him from serving strongly throughout. Anderson is enjoying a career season, moving up to ten in the rankings last week despite his first round loss to Gilles Muller.
A title run in Shanghai would see him close the gap on the ATP World Tour Finals contenders, as he and the chasing pack lie more than one thousand points adrift of David Ferrer in the final qualification position. Ninth would see him attend London as an alternate at the very least, though Andy Murray has made noises about preferring to practice for the Davis Cup Final on clay rather than play London this year.
