Shanghai Masters: Sinner Gets Revenge, Medvedev Overcomes Injury Scare And Alcaraz Wins Again - UBITENNIS

Shanghai Masters: Sinner Gets Revenge, Medvedev Overcomes Injury Scare And Alcaraz Wins Again

By Adam Addicott
6 Min Read
Image via https://x.com/ATPTour_ES/

It was sweet revenge for Jannik Sinner at the Shanghai Masters on Wednesday after the top seed booked his place in the quarter-finals with a straight-sets win.

The world No.1 required 88 minutes to defeat America’s Ben Shelton 6-4, 7-6(1), in what was a closely contested encounter with only one break of serve occurring during the match. Sinner produced 17 winners against 10 unforced errors and saved all seven break points he faced. The victory comes 12 months after the Italian lost to Shelton, who turned 22 today, at the same stage of the tournament.

It was very tough. He played only first serves, except one second serve (in the first set),” Sinner said afterwards. “I tried to wait a little bit. Obviously playing against him, even if it’s a second serve, it’s very tough to return.

“But if I look at the positive picture, how I ended the match, I tried to stay a bit more aggressive, which I’ve done, and this hopefully can give me confidence for the next round.”

Sinner is now 52-1 against played ranked outside of the top 10 this season with his only loss being against Stefanos Tsitsipas in Monte Carlo. He is the first player to reach the quarter-finals or better at seven Masters events within the same year since Alexander Zverev in 2018.  

“It was very tough, you don’t have so much control when you play against him… I just tried to stay strong mentally,” he said of Shelton.

Medvedev awaits

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Next up for the two-time Grand Slam champion will be a showdown against Daniil Medvedev which will be their 14th meeting on the Tour. Fifth seed Medvedev beat an at times frustrated Tsitsipas 7-6(3), 6-3. Tsitsipas clashed with umpire Fergus Murphy over a time violation warning he received and said to the official it appears that he has ‘no clue about tennis.’ It is the latest incident of disagreements between umpires and players at the tournament.

As for Medvedev, he has broken his six-match losing streak against top 10 players and has now beaten Tsitsipas 10 times on the Tour.

“The match itself was very strange,” he said.

“I feel like for whatever reason today, as soon as we tried to really hit the ball, it was flying.

“So you always like pushing it a little bit to to not make a mistake.

“So it was very tough to adapt tactically. But I’m happy to win.”

Midway through the match, Medvedev took a medical time out for treatment on his shoulder which he later explained was a precautionary measure.

“I felt some pain in one muscle behind the shoulder,” Medvedev commented.

“During the tiebreak, I tried to make one passing shot on the stretch. Didn’t make it. And I think I probably pulled a muscle a little bit, or maybe Spasmed or whatever. So I felt a bit painful.”

Looking ahead to his clash with Sinner, the world No.5 has vowed to ‘fight till the end’ as he aims to beat him for the second time in 2024 after Wimbledon. However, he has lost to Sinner on three other occasions since January, including the Australian Open final where he led by two sets to love.

Alcaraz continues winning ways

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Also through to the last eight in Shanghai is Carlos Alcaraz who ousted Gael Monfils 6-4, 7-5, in a clash that was much closer than his opponent predicted. As a result of his latest victory, Alcaraz has now reached the last eight of every hard court Masters 1000 and Grand Slam event. He is currently on a 12-match winning streak after claiming the China Open title last week. Only Sinner has won more consecutive matches than him on the Tour this year.

“The main thing that I tried in this match was to stay calm.” Alcaraz said of beating Monfils.

“I had a few opportunities that I could break in the second set at the beginning that I couldn’t make it. I tried to stay calm and think ‘Okay, I’m gonna I’m gonna have more during during the match.’

“I think that helped me a lot to show my best tennis during the whole match.”

Coming into his encounter with Monfils, the Spaniard had a two-day break from playing which some might think was a positive for somebody who has played a lot in recent days. However, Alcaraz has a different view.

“It felt like it was too much for me. I just wanted to jump in into the court again.” He said.

“So for me, those days with no match no competition was like a like too much.”

Alcaraz will next play either Tommy Paul or Tomas Machac.

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