Sinner and Alcaraz Take Step Forward in Shanghai

Jannik Sinner was taken the distance by Tomas Martin Etcheverry at Shanghai, with Etcheverry keeping Jannik on court for 2 hours and 39 minutes before eventually succumbing and earning himself a place in the round 16 of Rolex Masters (6-7(3) 6-4 6-2). Sometimes it pays off to wait your turn while remaining mentally calm – as was evident today as Sinner broke immediately in game three to put himself close to an impressive victory, eventually taking it by way of love game in game seven and closing out my match with ease. Sinner noted later: “It got stressful because if I lose at 3-2 and then make his break, we are back even.” Often you need to wait patiently for your chances, while remaining mentally at peace; today this was key! Carlos Alcaraz found an easy path into the last 16 (Photo by Zhe Ji/Getty Images), as his fellow Spaniard Carlos Alvaraz took only 99-minutes to defeat Chinese wild card Yibing Wu 7-6(3) 6-3 for his 50th win of this year – no small feat considering Alcaraz was tested early by 24-year-old opponent who made Alvaraz work, before eventually working him out and becoming his opponent in two sets of playback. Alcaraz noted: “He’s recovering his level. Coming off injury, his play deserves to be at its peak level and hopefully I will see him more frequently if this level remains. “I am immensely glad we made it. ” “I wasn’t used to feeling how I did on court; his opponent is an extremely powerful and effective player; therefore I never felt in control of this match-up. Novak Djokovic battled hard against Alex Michelsen to advance, eventually coming through in two tie, 7-6 3) 7-6(9). Djokovic found himself trailing early and quickly found himself behind three sets to one within 10 minutes – before fighting his way back and holding for the tiebreak where he gained momentum to eventually take out set one 7-6(1) 7-6(9) and advance further in Shanghai tournament. As in the first set, this match remained close during its second set as well. Again, tiebreak proved decisive but Djokovic still faced two set points before qualifying for round three. Djokovic later commented, “it took me some time to adjust as this was our first match together and also after not playing for some time,” admitting his initial struggles were partially down to fatigue from being away from tennis for so long. Alex started off tremendously strong; playing aggressive tennis with big serves and aggressive play…not afraid to step it up against an opponent when necessary. He started off strongly; big serves and aggressive play made an immediate statement of intent from Alex right from the outset of their match.” “Today was an extremely close match and high level tennis from both sets; I am just grateful I managed to stay calm when it mattered most during the second set tie-break.” Alexander Zverev almost didn’t make Shanghai but has advanced nonetheless (photo credit Zhe Ji/Getty Images). While Zverev follows Djokovic and Federer into the semi-finals, his path took longer as the German overcame Italian qualifier Mattia Bellucci 6-4 6-2 to advance. “He is actually an extremely gifted player; his skill surpassed my expectations given his size. His serve is absolutely phenomenal!” Zverev stated after his victory: “[Camillo] gets quite a lot of speed on that and from [the] baseline he’s very aggressive,” admitting there had been uncertainty ahead of the event due to illness. In only 96 minutes after withdrawing from Beijing due to pneumonia last week, this 27-year old notched his first win at Shanghai since 2019! Taking no practice nor making changes of any sort leading up to it he claimed his first success on Shanghai soil since 2019. “Obviously I am pleased with my level compared to last week,” adding there had been uncertainty leading into tournament due to illness before entering competition.