Shanghai Masters 2024 Round 1 Recap – Perfect Tennis

The opening round at the 2024 Shanghai Rolex Masters is complete, with several qualifiers and wildcards progressing into the second round.

With the top 32 seeds all receiving a bye, there was little ‘headline’ action over the first two days, but fans got to see Stan Wawrinka pick up one of his best wins in a while by defeating Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard in two tie-break sets.

Former world number six Matteo Berrettini also moved into the round of 64, seeing off the tricky Christopher O’Connell and allaying fears he’d suffered a reoccurrence of an abdominal injury after his withdrawal from Tokyo against Arthur Fils.

Wildcards Kei Nishikori, Yibing Wu, and Yi Zhou also won to give the home crowd something to get behind.

You can see the complete list of results from the round of 128 below.

Shanghai Masters 2024 Round of 128 Results

Winner	Loser	Scoreline
Taro Daniel	Egor Gerasimov (Q)	6-7(5) 6-3 6-4
Botic van de Zandschulp	Pablo Carreno Busta (PR)	7-6(5), 6-2
Roberto Carballes Baena	Roberto Baustista Agut	3-6 6-3 6-2
Denis Shapovalov (Q)	Lorenzo Sonego	7-6(5) 7-6(8)
Kei Nishikori (WC)	Mario Navone	3-6 6-4 6-3
Alexander Muller	Luca Nardi	4-6 6-1 6-1
Zachary Svajda (Q)	Adrian Mannarino	6-3 1-6 6-0
Thiago Seyboth Wild	Dan Evans (Q)	6-2 4-6 7-6(3)
Jerry Shang	Coleman Wong	6-4 6-4
Yibing Wu (WC)	Sumit Nagal	6-3 6-3
Gael Monfils	Damir Dzhumur	6-4 6-3
Arthur Cazaux	Marin Cilic (PR)	6-4 6-4
Fabio Fognini	Luciano Darderi	6-4 6-7(5) 6-4
Arthur Rinderknech	Reilly Opelka (PR)	6-4 7-6(5)
Alejandro Davidovich Fokina	Gabriel Diallo (Q)	7-5 7-6(7)
Aleksandar Vukic (Q)	Corentin Moutet	2-6 6-3 6-4
Jakub Mensik	Pedro Martinez	6-1 5-7 6-4
Alexander Shevchenko	Ramkumar Ramanathan (Q)	6-1 7-6(3)
Miomir Kecmanovic	Rinky Hijikata	6-2 6-2
Zizou Bergs	Zhizhen Zhang	6-4 6-3
Yi Zhou (WC)	Yoshihito Nishioka	4-2 RET
Roman Safiullin	Beibit Zhukayev (Q)	7-6(0) 6-4
Stan Wawrinka (WC)	Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard	7-6(2) 7-6(6)
Alex Michelsen	Yunchaokete Bu	6-3 6-4
Terence Atmane (Q)	Alexsandar Kovacevic	6-4 7-6(4)
Yosuke Watanuki (Q)	Pavel Kotov	6-7(6) 6-4 7-5
Jaume Munar	Hugo Gaston	6-3 6-3
Matteo Berrettini	Christopher O’Connell	7-6(9) 7-6(5)
David Goffin	James Duckworth	6-4 6-2
Marcos Giron	Li Tu (Q)	6-1 7-6(4)
Tallon Griekspoor	Facundo Diaz Acosta	6-4 6-7(6) 6-3
Mattia Bellucci (Q)	Billy Harris (LL)	6-3 6-4

Wawrinka Records Much Needed Victory

Stan Wawrinka hasn’t had a great time this season, at least where winning matches is concerned, and he headed into his clash with Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard, having not won a match since Wimbledon and a 6-13 record on tour so far for the season.

The Frenchman, on the other hand, is having a breakthrough season, landing his first ATP title in Lyon, but it was Stan who found that little bit extra, fighting his way through 7-6(2), 7-6(6) to set up a second-round match with Flavio Cobolli.

It’s been a really tough year so far, but I’m not getting younger so I’m trying to keep pushing myself. I’m happy with the match tonight. I think it was a really good level. I was playing really good, one of the best matches of the year for me. He’s such an aggressive player. It was great to be here, so much support here, so I’m enjoying my time in China. Wawrinka on his win.

Berrettini Cracks O’Connell

After his win in Kitzbuhel a couple of months back, I was expecting Berrettini to go on a bit of a tear-up during the North American hardcourt swing, but he never really got going.

He then retired in Tokyo with an abdominal issue, so I wasn’t too optimistic about his chances in Shanghai. Still, he’s into round 2 after a narrow victory over Australian Christopher O’Connell. Berrettini secured a 7-6(9), 7-6(6) win, hitting 33 winners, including 11 aces, as recorded by Infosys ATP Stats. The match lasted two hours and 13 minutes, marking Berrettini’s first victory. If he is okay physically and gets past Holger Rune, I can see him going deep.

I’m happy to be back here and healthy. I’ve never played him, so I didn’t know what to expect. Mentally it’s been tough… Too often, I have been thinking about how to be healthy, which I’ve grown a bit tired of. I’ve been working hard to be able to think as little as possible about this. It was one of the goals of the match. Not to think about my condition, to enjoy the match and the atmosphere, which I did. Berrettini on his win.

Other Matches of Note

Elsewhere, Gael Monfils began his campaign with a 6-4, 6-3 victory over Damir Dzumhur. The 38-year-old hit 22 winners and wasn’t deterred by Dzhumur’s speedy court coverage. He will face Sebastian Baez in the second round.

Marin Cilic couldn’t maintain his form from Hangzhou, as Arthur Cazaux secured a solid 6-4, 6-4 win against him. The victory set up an all-French second-round clash with Tokyo finalist Ugo Humbert, and Cazaux was one of four French players to win on the opening day in Shanghai.

Miomir Kecmanovic defeated Rinky Hijikata 6-2, 6-2, to achieve his first hardcourt win in over a year. The victory meant Kecmanovic has won at least one match at all nine ATP Masters 1000 events. He capitalised on Hijikata’s five double faults and will next meet Alexei Popyrin.

Chinese wild card Yi Zhou advanced past Yoshihito Nishioka when the Japanese player retired due to a back injury while leading 4-2. Zhou, who is making a late run to appear in Jeddah, will face 13th seed Frances Tiafoe next.

And finally, Japanese wildcard Kei Nishikori advanced to the second round by defeating Mariano Navone 3-6, 6-4, 6-3. Currently ranked No. 200, Nishikori will face No. 10 seed Stefanos Tsitsipas in his next match.

2024 Shanghai Masters Round of 64 Matches

Who do you fancy to win the Shanghai title? Let me know in the comments.