The Shanghai Masters has been full of upsets, and the remaining top seeds will hope to avoid following Carlos Alcaraz and Novak Djokovic out of the draw. No. 2 seed Alcaraz suffered a shock 7-5 7-6(4) defeat to Zizou Bergs and was visibly frustrated on the court.
The Spaniard vented his frustrations to his box, and later declared that his level was “really bad”, and he was unhappy with “everything”. Djokovic, meanwhile, lost his opening match here for the first time in his career and has since left Shanghai.
Arthur Fils, Taylor Fritz, and defending champion Valentin Vacherot all joined Alcaraz in losing on Monday. Alcaraz’s loss has guaranteed Alexander Zverev the year-end No. 1 ranking. Currently sitting at No. 2 in the world, the German faces controversial star Alexander Bublik for a place in the quarter-finals. In the last round, Bublik destroyed his racket and cut his hand open when he whacked the lid of a drinks cooler.
Wuhan Open: Boulter faces tough opener, Siniakova's medical scare
Over in Wuhan, British No. 1 Katie Boulter has a brutal opening match against 11th seed Diana Shnaider. Boulter will be hoping to join countrywoman Sonay Kartal in the second round.
There were worrying scenes at the WTA 1000 event on Tuesday, when Katerina Siniakova had her vitals checked mid-match. The doubles world No. 1 was also competing in the singles draw, where she came up against Liudmila Samsonova.
Siniakova's medical timeout and fightback
Having quickly lost the first set, Siniakova called the trainer when she went an early break down at 1-2 in the second. They gave her some medication and checked her blood pressure, and she played on.
Siniakova was able to fight back, taking a close second set 7-5. But she ran out of steam again in the final set, and was seen blowing her nose during changeovers before losing 6-1 5-7 6-2.
