Top seed Jannik Sinner is in the top seed of the draw at the Shanghai Rolex Masters. The 2024 Grand Slam champion, who received a first-round bye, will start his campaign against Japan’s Taro Daniel or a qualifier. Sinner could face Argentina’s Tomas Martin Etcheverry in the third round and a potential fourth round clash against Ben Shelton. The world number 1 crashed out to Shelton at last year’s edition of the Shanghai Masters 1000 tournament.
Sinner is projected to face either fifth seed Danil Medvedev or Stefanos Tsitsipas in the quarter final.
Medvedev will open his campaign against either Thiago Seyboth Wild or a qualifier in the second round. The Russian player is aiming to win his second title in Shanghai five years after his first triumph in 2019. He has not won a title this year yet.
Sinner won six titles at the Australian Open, Rotterdam, Miami, Halle, Cincinnati and US Open and will face Carlos Alcaraz in the final of the China Open in Beijing.
Carlos Alcaraz has been drawn on the other side of the top half of the draw. The Spaniard won two Grand Slam titles at Roland Garros and Wimbledon and the Olympic silver medal in Paris.
Alcaraz will open his campaign against either this year’s Chengdu Open champion Shang Juncheng or Coleman Wong. The world number 2 could meet this year’s Rome Masters 1000 finalist Nicholas Jarry in the third round before a potential fourth round clash against either this year’s Hangzhou champion Marin Cilic or this week’s Tokyo finalist Ugo Humbert. If Alcaraz advances to the quarter final, he could meet either Casper Ruud or Tommy Paul.
Sinner could meet Alcaraz in a semifinal showdown. Alcaraz leads 6-4 in his head-to-head series against Sinner.
The bottom half of the draw features this year’s Olympic gold medallist Novak Djokovic, who will face either this week’s China Open semifinalist Yunchaokete or Alex Michelsen, who reached two finals in Newport and Winston Salem.
Djokovic, who won the Shanghai Rolex Masters four times in 2012, 2013, 2015 and 2018, will take on either China Open semifinalist Buyunchakoete or Alex Michelsen in the second round. Djokovic could face either Stan Wawrinka or Flavio Cobolli. Tiafoe will face Yoshihito Nishioka and Alexander Bublik in the first two rounds and is projected to face Djokovic in the fourth round. Djokovic could face either Grigor Dimitrov or Andrey Rublev in the quarter final.
Djokovic is playing in his first ATP tournament since the US Open, where lost to Alexey Popyrin in the third round. Djokovic is currently ninth in the ATP Race to Turin
Alexander Zverev features on the other side of the half of the draw. Zverev won 57 matches this year including the Masters 1000 title in Rome and reached the final at Roland Garros finishing runner-up to Carlos Alcaraz, was forced to withdraw from the China Open due to pneumonia, bu he has confirmed that he has fully recovered just in time to play in Shanghai. The German player will face a qualifier in the opening round and could face either Jordan Thompson or Tallon Griekspoor in the third round. The 2021 Olympic champion could meet Olympic bronze medallist and Wimbledon semifinalist Lorenzo Musetti in the fourth round and US Open finalist Taylor Fritz in the quarter final. Zverev and Fritz met four times this year. Zverev beat Fritz in the quarter final in Rome, but lost to his US opponent three times in the Wimbledon Round of 16, in the US Open quarter final and in the Laver Cup. The winner of the match between Zverev and Fritz could face Djokovic in the semifinal.
The first round features interesting matches like Matteo Berrettini vs Christopher O’Connell, Stan Wawrinka vs Giovanni Mpetchi Perricard, Ricky Hijikata vs Miomir Keccmanovic, Reilly Opelka vs Arthur Rinderkecht and Marin Cilic vs Arthur Cazaux.
