Gilles Simon upset No. 3 seed Stan Wawrinka 6-4, 6-4 in the third round of the Shanghai Rolex Masters on Thursday. The 31-year-old Frenchman earned the win in 96 minutes when Wawrinka found the net and will face Jack Sock in the quarter-finals. Though Simon trailed 4-2 in the pair’s FedEx ATP Head2Head rivalry coming into the match, he had not lost to Wawrinka on hard court since 2010. The Frenchman’s natural tendency to take the ball early made it difficult for Wawrinka to find the range on his forehand. The Swiss led 3-1 but a flurry of unforced errors put Simon a set and a break up after an hour of play. Wawrinka broke back to even the second...
World No. 1 Novak Djokovic remained on course for a fourth Shanghai Rolex Masters crown on Thursday as he defeated Vasek Pospisil 6-4, 6-4 to reach the quarter-finals. The Serbian is back in action for the first time since losing the US Open final to Stan Wawrinka and is chasing his eighth tour-level crown of the season. He has a 26-3 record at this ATP World Tour Masters 1000 tournament and is bidding to add to the trophies he won in 2012-13 and 2015. Each victory this week sees Djokovic keep pace with Andy Murray in the battle to finish the year-end No. 1 in the Emirates ATP Rankings. The Belgrade native started the week with a healthy 1,555-point lead...
Ninth seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga denied the Zverev family two quarter-finalists at the Shanghai Rolex Masters as he rallied to defeat the younger of the two, Alexander Zverev, 6-7(4), 6-2, 7-5, in the third round on Thursday. Mischa Zverev advanced to the last eight with a three-set win over Marcel Granollers, but his younger brother was unable to capitalise on the 4-1 lead in the final set that he held over Tsonga. As Zverev's frustration mounted, an inspired Tsonga mounted a fightback, winning six of the last seven games to clinch victory in two hours and 27 minutes. Tsonga is enjoying a successful return from the left knee injury that forced him to retire against Novak Djokovic in the US Open...
Andy Murray had little trouble taking his seventh consecutive tour-level victory on Wednesday at the Shanghai Rolex Masters. The second seed needed 75 minutes to beat Steve Johnson 6-3, 6-2 and improve his FedEx ATP Head2Head record against Johnson to 3-0. The American had forced Murray to pull out a third-set tie-break the last time they played, at the Rio Olympics. But Murray was on from the start of their second-round match in Shanghai. The Brit saved the only break point he faced in the first set and never gave Johnson a look at another one. The two-time Shanghai champion also feasted on Johnson's second serve, winning 70 per cent of his second-serve return points (14/20). “I felt like I...
Viktor Troicki claimed one of his biggest wins of the season on Wednesday as he defeated Rafael Nadal 6-3, 7-6(3) in the second round of the Shanghai Rolex Masters. The Serbian had never beaten Nadal in five previous attempts, but pulled off the upset as he held his nerve for victory in one hour and 34 minutes. "I played really well," said Troicki. "I was aggressive, I served well, I hit the ball nice. "It was a great feeling on the court playing like this and playing like this against Rafa Nadal, who is a great champion. It makes it extra special to beat him for the first time, especially in such a big tournament like Shanghai. "I'm really glad...