Monday's action in Rolex Shanghai Masters delivered another sensational upset, as the top seed from upper half of a draw Alexander Zverev got eliminated by the world number 54 Arthur Rinderknech. The Frenchman came back from a set down to win by 4-6 6-3 6-2 which is his second consecutive victory over Zverev following their latest encounter at Wimbledon three months ago. Apart from this surprising outcome, the other favroites moved on quite comfortably. Luckily, this day brought no serious issues for the players who completed all of 8 matches played. Let's get into the breakdown of the action from today and the recap of most interesting match-ups of Round of 16 scheduled for Tuesday and Wednesday.
Rinderknech's comeback win
The German is not displaying his best run of form during Asian swing, but comfortably won the opening set after pushing his lower rated opponent in opening games, confidently holding own serve. He could set up the easy path to straight sets victory at start of second set, but missed the breakpoint opportunity in opening game. Then, Rinderknech started to be much more reliable on serve and utilized first weak moment of Zverev, getting his first break in 4th game of second set.
The Frenchman raised up his level in all areas - lifting up the first serve points from just 56% in first set to 76% in second and 88% in decisive one - dropping just 2 out of 17 points in the last stage of that match. He was also overplaying the favorized rival in open play, winning 24 out of 29 net points since start of second set. Both the players had their chances in decisive set, but it was Rinderknech who ultimately broke the deadlock, saved two breakpoints to confirm break advantage and added another one to seal the huge victory at the end. Rinderknech faced more pressure points, mostly due to poor performance in first set, but won 18 out of 23 on own serve, which was also one of the ingredients of that win. It's a great result for the Frenchman who has negative record in ATP Tour this year both on all surfaces (22-25) and on hard courts (11-14). For Zverev, it's another disappointment which completes the unsuccessful Asian campaign (just 3 matches won out of 5), preceeded by the relative early exit in US Open (third round) and miserable form displayed during exhibition Laver Cup.
Favorites move on
In contrary to Sunday and huge struggles of favorites in bottom half of the draw (review article), the top contenders made their job done quite easily on Monday, excluding Zverev. Alex De Minaur stays as the top ranked player in upper half, moving into round of 16 after defeating Kamil Majchrzak by 6-1 7-5. The Aussie was 3-4 down in second set with a break, but comfortably scored his 45th victory in ATP Tour this season. De Minaur still awaits serious test in Shanghai, facing just 5 pressure points from the Pole and just one (!) against Camilo Ugo Carabelli in previous round. De Minaur will be a strong favorite against the world number 51 Nuno Borges in his next match, though.
Felix Auger Aliassime showed a resillience in crucial moments of his match against Jesper De Jong. The world number 81 was staying in contention in both sets against the favorite and had two setpoints on the Canadian's serve in a shaky second set, but Auger Aliassime came out of trouble to win the whole match by 6-4 7-5. Lorenzo Musetti had also have to put a fight in his all-Italian clash against Luciano Darderi. The 26th seed not performs well on hard courts this year, but was competitive against his higher ranked fellowcountry who needed more than two hours to take the win by 7-5 7-6(1) with 11 aces scored and impressive amount of 44 winners.
Medvedev and Tien set up revenge
Daniil Medvedev showed a proper patience in his match against Alejandro Davidovich Fokina, scoring another straight sets victory over the Spaniard just 8 days after their previous meeting in Beijing. Medvedev was a dominant force, producing 25 pressure points in compare to 6 faced. The Russian was leading since the start and had a chance to close first set in 8th game which was a crazy one with 10 deuces and 7 setpoints, but Davidovich Fokina cleared it all to extend this set to another game. That has not discouraged Medvedev who his serve game to love. Second set got settled in tiebreak, where Medvedev sealed his victory by 6-3 7-6(5) scoring 9 aces and excellent 94% on first serve, dropping just two out of 35 points, both in second set.
Learner Tien continues his amazing Asian swing campaign, defeating Cameron Norrie by 7-6(4) 6-3 after tough match. This time, the young American did not need to comeback from losing position like in his previous matches in Shanghai and Beijing, but the experienced Brit had put the bar quite high. Norrie was serving for the opening set in 12th game, but Tien denied it to force a tiebreak and tipped the scales of that set in his favor. The 19 years-old displayed a mature performance in second set, defending 6 breakpoints faced on the course of two service games and converted two breakpoints over his opponent to win which was a glimpse of strong efficiency and mental in crucial moments.
Victories of Medvedev and Tien mean their immediate revenge match after a storming clash from Beijing's semifinals. Medvedev was serving for a win in second set to miss his chance and retire in third set, which gave Tien the maiden advance into final of ATP Tour level tournament (review article). Both their matches so far were thrillers, including five-setter in Melbourne, and the Russian will try to finally snatch first win over his new opponent. Medvedev seemingly overcame struggles from their last encounter and definitely displays much better disposition during Asian swing than in previous parts of that season. Most of Tien's success story in recent weeks was built on his great comebacks, but once Medvedev puts the consistent performance over the whole course of a match, he should be able to cross the finish line this time.
Musetti vs Auger-Aliassime
The matchup between two contenders fighting for ATP Finals spot brings an intriguing H2H record of 4-3 in favor of the Italian, who won their last two encounter including the last one happened on hard courts in Miami in three sets. The Italian sits eighth in Race to Turin and strongly needs strong finishes to secure his maiden ATP Finals appearance. The Canadian looks like his only dangerous opponent, as all the others contenders around in ATP Race are already out from Shanghai. Auger-Aliassime sits 10th with 630 points behind Musetti and his probable win could make the battle for the finals really dialled on. The victory of Musetti will be the crucial step to almost close the race at this point. Both come into this match-up in good form - Auger-Aliassime was a semifinalist in US Open, the Italian is 11-3 since the start of last Grand Slam of this year.
Djokovic vs Munar
Novak Djokovic went through tough test in previous round, defeating Yannick Hanfmann 4-6 7-5 6-3 in match lasting almost three hours. The Serb battled stomach issues and extreme humidity but showed his legendary mentality rising in key moments. The draw has opened wide after elimination of all the top seeds, leaving Djokovic the really formidable path to his 4th victory in Shanghai which looks possible if the 24 times Grand Slam champion at least replicates his form displayed recently in Flushing Meadows.
Jaume Munar is experiencing his best season on hard courts - 18-11, which represents breakthrough for a player mainly associated with clay courts. The Spaniard reached career-high ranking of 37th after making fourth round at US Open, where he lost to Musetti. In Shanghai, Munar continues his revelatory form defeating Marton Fucsovics after dropping a set, Flavio Cobolli and Yoshihito Nishioka 6-4 5-7 6-1. In that last match, Munar fired 12 aces and won 74% of first serve points - it's the first time he reached round of 16 at Masters 1000 on hard courts. The 28-year-old won 27 out of 51 matches this season, and his game is based on consistency developed on clay courts - long and powerful rallies from the baseline with heavy topspin forehand.
Rune vs Mpetshi Perricard
Holger Rune holds 31-17 record in 2025 season, including 21-10 on hard courts.In Shanghai, Rune sailed through Sebastian Baez and Ugo Humbert, both in straight sets 6-4 6-4, though the match against Frenchman was tough due to extremely humid weather conditions. Rune won 81% of service games on hard courts this year and displayed solid tennis offering just one breakpoint against Humbert. This is his 15th appearance in round of 16 at Masters 1000 - among players born after 2000, only Jannik Sinner (26) and Carlos Alcaraz (21) have more.
Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard experienced a breakthrough victory over world number four Taylor Fritz 6-4 7-5 in previous round, which represents one of the biggest successes of his career. The Frenchman already produced over 450 aces this season, winning 88% of service games, but this translates to only 15 wins in 36 matches played in main draws of ATP Tour level this year. Against Fritz, Mpetshi Perricard blasted 29 winners compared to just 8 for the American and didn't face a single breakpoint - that says everything about the power of his serve, when the consistency of open play levels it.
The key to the match will be whether Rune can break Mpetshi Perricard's serve - a task that proved impossible for Fritz. The Frenchman serves with speed often exceeding 230 km/h, but his return game is a real liability, which the Dane should exploit.
