Kazakhstan's Alexander Bublik (208) and American Ben Shelton (125) lost 4:6, 3:6 to the Belarusian-Russian tandem Ivan Liutarevich (91)/Daniil Medvedev (352) in the first round of the ATP-1000 Rolex Shanghai Masters tennis tournament. This was reported by Qazaqyia.kz citing Kursiv Media.
In the first set, Ivan and Daniil broke serve once, in the second – twice. Alexander and Ben failed to secure any breaks. The match lasted only 49 minutes. The winners took 57 rallies, the losers – 37.
Bublik's successful start in singles
The day before, Bublik (22) began his singles campaign with a 6:4, 6:4 victory over Czech Tomas Machac (75). Shelton (4) defeated German Daniel Altmaier (67) – 6:3, 7:6 (8:6). The doubles partners could meet in the quarterfinals.
In the second round, Alexander will face Japan's Brandon Nakashima (19), who beat Italian Matteo Berrettini (46) – 7:6 (7:4), 7:5 in the first round.
Timofey Skatov (210) could have joined Bublik in the Shanghai singles, but lost in the second round of qualifying to Australian Bernard Tomic (185) – 5:7, 4:6.
About the tournament
The Rolex Shanghai Masters (sponsor name) is a prestigious men's ATP-1000 tennis tournament with a prize fund of $9.4 million. The only Masters-1000 series event outside North America and Europe took its current form in 2009.
Record holder for hard-court wins in Shanghai Novak Djokovic (8) has triumphed here four times. At the current tournament, the Serb lost his first match to Poland's Hubert Hurkacz (34) – 4:6, 3:6.
Britain's Andy Murray won the main trophy three times, Switzerland's Roger Federer – twice. In addition, Russians Nikolay Davydenko and Daniil Medvedev, the aforementioned Pole Hurkacz and Italian Jannik Sinner have left with trophies.
The defending champion, Monaco's Valentin Vacherot, defeated France's Arthur Rinderknech in last year's final – 4:6, 6:3, 6:3. Notably, in the second round of Shanghai 2025, Vacherot, as a qualifier, beat our Bublik – 3:6, 6:3, 6:4.