The opening round of the 2026 Shanghai Masters ended Thursday with former champion Hubert Hurkacz returning to win and set up a second-round showdown with Novak Djokovic.

Stefanos Tsitsipas also advanced in straight sets, while Buyunchaokete became the third Chinese player to reach the second round after an impressive serving display against Luca Van Assche.

Elsewhere, Matteo Arnaldi made short work of Bernard Tomic, and Cameron Norrie suffered an early exit at the hands of qualifier Dalibor Svrcina.

You can see the full Day Two results and selected match recaps below.

Day Two Shanghai Masters Round of 128 Results

Key Match Recap

Hubert Hurkacz Def. James Duckworth 6-3, 7-6(4)

Hubert Hurkacz returned to Shanghai for the first time since winning the title in 2023, defeating James Duckworth in 81 minutes.

The Pole fired 19 aces to win in straight sets, taking the opener 6-3 before edging a tighter second set in a tie-break.

Hurkacz has enjoyed a decent Asian swing, reaching the final in Chengdu and the semi-finals in Beijing. However, an adductor problem forced him to retire against Alex de Minaur in the latter.

He appears to have recovered sufficiently to compete in Shanghai, where he’ll now face Novak Djokovic in a meeting between two former champions.

It’s not a particularly favourable matchup for Hurkacz, who trails Djokovic 0-8 in their head-to-head, and although the Serbian also arrives in good form, having won his 102nd career title in Beijing, it’s a quick-ish turnaround after some physical matches in the Chinese capital.

It’s going to be a fun challenge. It’s on my list to play some good tennis against him and get a win. He’s got a few of them already… I need to serve well, play well from the baseline and return well.

Stefanos Tsitsipas Def. Kimmer Coppejans 6-3, 7-5

Stefanos Tsitsipas maintained his 100% record in Shanghai opening-round matches with a straight-sets victory over qualifier Kimmer Coppejans.

The Greek is now 6-0 in his opening matches at the tournament and served solidly, winning 15 of 19 points behind his second serve.

Tsitsipas took the opening set 6-3 before closing out the match with a tighter 7-5 second set.

The win moves the former World No. 3 up five places to No. 38 in the live rankings as he continues his push back toward the top of the game. Can he get there? It looks rather up in the air, though he seems to be making small improvements.

Next, he’ll face 18th seed Luciano Darderi, whom he defeated in their only previous meeting on the grass at Halle last year.

Buyunchaokete Def. Luca Van Assche 7-6(3), 6-3

Buyunchaokete became the third Chinese player to reach the second round in Shanghai, putting on an impressive serving display against Luca Van Assche.

The 24-year-old won 37 of 38 points on his first serve and didn’t face a single break point.

After taking the opening-set tie-break 7-3, Bu capitalised on two double faults from Van Assche to secure a break in the second set and complete the victory.

I served really well today. He has an amazing backhand. He’s very aggressive and he doesn’t miss. So I kept more to the forehand and tried to serve well.

Bu has enjoyed a decent Asian swing, reaching the quarter-finals in Hangzhou before pushing eventual Beijing champion Novak Djokovic to three sets last week.

Those results have helped him return to the world’s top 100, climbing 11 places to No. 93.

He’ll face Casper Ruud next, with the Norwegian presenting a different challenge to Van Assche, but given Ruud’s form and lack of match play, it is winnable.

Matteo Arnaldi Def. Bernard Tomic 6-3, 6-1

Matteo Arnaldi recorded one of Thursday’s quickest victories, defeating qualifier Bernard Tomic in just 52 minutes.

The Italian dropped only four games in a comfortable straight-sets win, setting up a second-round meeting with 11th seed Taylor Fritz.

You don’t see Tomic in many main draws these days, and this match probably explains why, but he’s still out there on the Challenger Circuit, though his Grand Slam title prediction probably isn’t on the cards.

Highlights

Shanghai Masters Day 3 Round of 64 Matches

- Alexander Zverev (1) v Wu Yibing (WC)

- Quentin Halys v Alexander Blockx (27)

- Alexander Bublik (19) v Tomáš Macháč

- Matteo Berrettini v Brandon Nakashima (16)

- Alex de Minaur (9) v Alex Molčan

- Rei Sakamoto (Q) v Andrey Rublev (23)

- Karen Khachanov (26) v Arthur Fery

- Adrian Mannarino v Flavio Cobolli (6)

- Ben Shelton (3) v Daniel Altmaier

- Arthur Gea v Ugo Humbert (30)

- Francisco Cerúndolo (21) v Roman Safiullin (Q)

- Miomir Kecmanović v Jakub Menšík (13)

- Novak Djokovic (10) v Hubert Hurkacz

- Zhou Yi (WC) v Lorenzo Musetti (24)

- Alejandro Davidovich Fokina (25) v Jenson Brooksby