Alexander Zverev began his campaign at the Shanghai Masters with a hard-fought win over home favourite Wu Yibing on Friday.

Zverev, who is ranked 111 places higher than his Chinese opponent in the rankings, battled to a 6-4, 7-6(4) victory after spending more than one and a half hours on the court. He has become the second player after Daniil Medvedev to win 30 hard-court matches in 2026 on the ATP Tour and has now won 23 consecutive matches against players ranked outside the top 100.

The two-time Grand Slam champion looked to be firmly in control of proceedings when leading by a set and 2-0 before Wu managed to break back to draw level in the second frame. Despite the blip, Zverev held his ground going into the tiebreak, which he ended by winning six out of seven points played.

”It’s a little bit strange because he (Wu) hits every ball as hard as he can. So, the match doesn’t really depend on you that much, except your serve,” Zverev said afterwards.

“I thought I was serving okay, but everything else is a little bit in his hands and he was playing really well in the second set.

“I’m happy to have gone through in straight sets.”

After Jannik Sinner ended his season early due to injury, Zverev is on the verge of claiming the year-end No.1 for the first time. He could seal the honour in Shanghai if one of two scenarios occurs. First, if he reaches the semi-finals, he will claim the position regardless of how his rivals perform. Otherwise, he would seal the year-end No.1 if Ben Shelton and Carlos Alcaraz both lose at any point during this tournament.

“ I’m motivated to keep playing. I’m motivated to keep fighting for good things hopefully. And the only thing that I can control is what I do on the court and my next match,” Zverev said earlier this week.

However, Zverev won’t overtake Sinner in the rankings on Monday, but the Italian’s points tally will drop before the season ends because he can’t defend them.

Zverev plays France’s Quentin Halys in the next round, who upset 27th seed Alexander Blockx 4-6, 7-6(9), 6-4.

Birthday boy Shelton wins

Shelton, who lost to Zverev in this year’s US Open final, marked his 24th birthday with a testing 6-3, 7-6(6) win over Germany’s Daniel Altmaier. The American third seed encountered a blip during the second set when he lost his break advantage when up 4-3 (15-0) before squeezing through a tightly contested tiebreak.

Shelton has become the sixth ATP player to get 40 or more wins this season. However, he has struggled at most of the Masters events he has played since January. Outside of winning the Montreal Masters, he has won just two out of seven matches played at this level.

“I could care less about my birthday,” an honest-speaking Shelton said after his latest win.

“I’m happy to be through to the next round. A tough matchup for me against Altmaier – a great player. A lot of skills. Does a good job of countering the style of game that I play, and it wasn’t an easy match to come through.

“I thought I served really well at the beginning of the match, but I wasn’t very pleased with the way I finished the match. I think there’s a lot of room for improvement with different parts of my game,” he added.

It is the third time this season that Shelton has reached the third round of a Masters event after Indian Wells and Montreal.

Cobolli suffers fresh disappointment

For the second tournament in a row, world No.7 Flavio Cobolli has lost his opening match. Cobolli, who is currently fifth in the ATP Race to Turin, fell 6-1, 4-6, 6-3 to French veteran Adrian Mannarino, who is one of three players currently in the top 100 aged 38 or older.

The Italian produced a costly 40 unforced errors, 21 of them from his forehand side. Including the Laver Cup, he is now on a four-match losing streak. This is the second time in 2026 he has lost this many matches in a row, with the other run taking place between January and February.

Italian tennis fans had additional disappointment elsewhere, as Matteo Berrettini also exited the tournament. The former Wimbledon finalist lost 7-6(4), 7-5 to Brandon Nakashima despite winning 81% of his first-serve points.