Carlos Alcaraz struggled in his third round match against Zizou Bergs in the third round of the Shanghai Masters.

The Spaniard arrived at the penultimate Masters tournament of the calendar in good form, having lifted the Japan Open title for the second year in a row.

He began his campaign with a solid straight sets victory against Juan Manuel Cerundolo in his opening round match in Shanghai, but he did not play his best tennis as he lost in straight sets to Bergs.

Alcaraz was broken twice in the first set against Bergs, in a set that he would go on to lose 7-5 to continue his worrying displays in the opening sets on the ATP Tour’s Asian swing.

He followed it up by losing a second set tie-break to confirm his exit from the Shanghai Masters.

The Spaniard appeared to be struggling with the conditions in Shanghai and he was letting his coach, Samuel Lopez, know about it during the match.

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“I can’t play like this. A ball that goes like this and bounces like this… I don’t understand it,” said Alcaraz during the first set. “You can’t play tennis by instinct.”

Alcaraz’s early defeat continues a bizarre run for the Spaniard at the Shanghai Masters.

The star has played the Chinese Masters tournament on three occasions and he has never reached past the quarterfinals of the event.

The star was knocked out of the fourth round in 2023, to Grigor Dimitrov, while he reached the last eight in his best effort a year later, where he lost to Tomas Machac.

Alcaraz opted not to play the tournament in 2025, but his return in 2026 continues his disappointing trajectory at the Masters 1000 event.

His early exit in 2026 means he has a 6-3 win-loss record at the tournament, which equates to a winning percentage of 66.6% at the Shanghai Masters.

That means the Shanghai Masters is Alcaraz’s third worst performing Masters 1000 event, which is a major worry for the current world No 3.

Only the Paris Masters and the Canadian Open are worse, with Alcaraz currently sitting at a 50% win rate at both of those tournaments.

Unsurprisingly, Alcaraz is yet any of those three tournaments, as they continue to elude him in his quest to collect all of the Masters events on the ATP Tour calendar.

Alcaraz will next be in action at the Six Kings Slam, which between October 21st and 24th, and will air internationally on Netflix.