|
Given everything he's already achieved in professional tennis, Casper Ruud can at time seem like a tour veteran.
At age 24, he's already a multiple Grand Slam finalist with a peak world No.2 ranking achieved last year.
But there are still new milestones for the young Norwegian to experience on tour, including his long-awaited debut at the Rolex Shanghai Masters in 2023.
Ruud's first visit to the city he describes as "alive and energetic" has been well worth the wait. "I've heard a lot about it from other players and I must say I'm very, very impressed. It's a very cool city," he said on Friday. "I'm very happy to be here and it's one more city I can tick off my list."
After a sturdy win over Yoshihito Nishioka in his opening match, Ruud is aiming to extend his stay in Shanghai when he faces Christopher Eubanks in the third round on Sunday.
The dynamic American is also experiencing his first visit to Shanghai, with Eubank's enjoyment rising after his come-from-behind win Yannick Hanfmann in the second round.
Eubanks anticipates a good-spirited battle in a second tour-level meeting with Ruud. They last competed in the second round of Indian Wells last year, with Ruud a straight-sets winner.
"It's going to be a tough one," said Eubanks. "Casper is, I think, extremely underrated. I think he's one of the best tennis players in the world over the past three years and I don't think he gets nearly the recognition he deserves.
"I'm looking forward to that match-up, to really just test myself and test my skills against who I consider to be one of the best players and also I think one of the nicest guys on the tour."
Daniil Medvedev is targeting a 61st match win this season as he faces No.28 seed Sebastian Korda in the second match on Qi Zhong Stadium.
Victory against the American would help atone for the loss he suffered to Korda in the Australian Open third round earlier this year.
"It will be a tough match," said Medvedev, with the memory of that straight-sets exit on such a big occasion still strong. "It's going to be interesting for me. I'm in a good shape now, so I will try to do better than last time and try to win."
Jannik Sinner returns to Center Court with a goal to claim a seventh straight match win in China, following his title-winning run in Beijing last week.
The sixth-seeded Italian defeated Marcos Giron on Saturday to set a third-round clash with Sebastian Baez. It will be his first match against the 22-year-old Argentine, who is the tournament's No.25 seed.
Zhang Zhizhen meets Brandon Nakashima in the final Sunday match at Qi Zhong Stadium, having already made history at his home event. With victories over Richard Gasquet and No.28 seed Tomas Martin Etcheverry, the 26-year-old became the first Chinese player to win back-to-back matches at the tournament.
The 122nd-ranked Nakashima carries similar momentum into a first match with Zhang, after a monumental upset over No.3 seed Holger Rune in the second round.
No.19 seed Ben Shelton, facing Roman Safiullin is also in third-round action; Hubert Hurkacz, the No.16 seed and Chinese Taipei qualifier Chun-Hsin Tseng also meet in the third round. After rain disrupted the Saturday schedule, second-round matches will also be completed on Sunday.
Frances Tiafoe, the No.10 seed, will resume his match with Lorenzo Sonego in a third set, while Cameron Norrie (No.15) and JJ Wolf are also one-set apiece in their second round.
Andrey Rublev, the fifth seed, takes to the court against Quentin Halys. Other seeds in action on Sunday include Karen Khachanov (No.13), Grigor Dimitrov (No.18) and Jiri Lehecka (No.27).
|
