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October 10th, 2017 Tournament
AMERICANS HAVE A SUNNY DAY IN SHANGHAI

It was an unseasonably hot day with bright sunshine on Tuesday in Shanghai, which meant the players had to bring all the fortitude they could muster to their matches. The 12th-seeded John Isner and 73rd-ranked qualifier Dusan Lajovic of Serbia were first to experience the heat on stadium court.

The weather, as it turned out, made no difference to these two warriors as they battled it out on Centre Court. They persevered until Isner finally ruled the day with a 4-6, 7-6 (5), 7-6 (6) first-round win. The match loss was a real heartbreaker for Lajovic, who never surrendered his serve, saving all four break points he faced.

Isner understood that luck was with him in winning the encounter, quite probably since he’s played – and captured – similar matches in the past.

JEREMY CHARDY (FRA) TENNIS - SHANGHAI ROLEX MASTERS - QI ZHONG TENNIS CENTRE - MINHANG DISTRICT - SHANGHAI - CHINA - ATP 1000 - 2017

“I don’t think I had any business winning that match, but that’s the reality of my game sometimes,” Isner said. “I was very fortunate to win that one. The conditions were brutal. It felt like Atlanta in August. I think that could’ve been the hottest match I played all year.”

Isner now leads Lajovic 3-1 in career meetings with wins now on three different surfaces: clay, grass and hard courts. Seven of the eleven sets they’ve played ended in tiebreakers.

Isner was one of a contingent of four Americans who were in action on Tuesday. Joining Isner in the second round were 10th-seeded Sam Querrey, Steve Johnson and Ryan Harrison. Querrey ousted Yuichi Sugita of Japan 6-3, 6-2, Harrison scored a 6-2, 6-3 win over wildcard recipient Zhang Ze of China, and Johnson scored an abbreviated 7-6 (5) retired win over 13th seed Nick Kyrgios of Australia.

The only American who failed to advance was 14th seed Jack Sock, who retired because of dehydration with the Ukrainian qualifier Alexandr Dolgopolov leading 4-6, 6-1, 2-1. Recent U.S. Open finalist and 11th-seeded Kevin Anderson of South Africa put forth a straight-forward 6-3, 6-1 first round win over Adrian Mannarino of France.

JEREMY CHARDY (FRA) TENNIS - SHANGHAI ROLEX MASTERS - QI ZHONG TENNIS CENTRE - MINHANG DISTRICT - SHANGHAI - CHINA - ATP 1000 - 2017

Experience prevailed over youth when Viktor Troicki of Serbia defeated 18-year-old Canadian wildcard recipient Denis Shapovalov 6-7 (3), 6-3, 6-0 and playing for the second consecutive day, 16th-seeded Juan Martin del Potro of Argentina served up some quality tennis in taking a 6-3, 6-4 second round win over another rising youngster Andrey Rublev of Russia.

Del Potro landed 14 aces and never offered Rublev an opportunity to break his serve.

In an all-Spanish second-round encounter it was Albert Ramos-Vinolas who upset seventh seed Pablo Carreno Busta 7-5, 7-5. Fresh off his title win last weekend, world No. 1 Rafael Nadal said on Tuesday he’s ready for Wednesday night action against young American Jared Donaldson.

“Here we are in Shanghai and it’s another important event for me,” Nadal said. “It’s just another Masters 1000 that I gonna fight to be ready (to) compete the best way possible. Let’s see if I am able to make that happen.”

Second-seeded Roger Federer will also take to the court on Wednesday night when he faces Diego Schwartzman of Argentina.

World No. 1 aims to extend winning streak
The top four seeds headline third round action at the Shanghai Rolex Masters on Thursday with Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer, Alexander Zverev and Marin Cilic leading the way.

In the opening match in Qi Zhong Stadium, No. 10 seed Sam Querrey takes on No. 6 seed Grigor Dimitrov, who has won both previous meetings. If Querrey reaches his first Shanghai quarter-final, he will move past Pablo Carreno Busta into ninth position in the Emirates ATP Race to London.
View FedEx ATP Head2Head matchup for Day 5 of the Shanghai Rolex Masters and vote for who you think will win!
Zverev vs del Potro | Dimitrov vs Querrey | Nadal vs Fognini | Federer vs Dolgopolov

In the next match, No. 16 seed Juan Martin del Potro meets #NextGenATP star Zverev for the first time. Last week, the 20-year-old German became the third player to clinch a spot in the Nitto ATP Finals in London. The 29-year-old Argentine is 3-9 vs. Top 10 opponents this season. In his previous match, del Potro defeated another top #NextGenATP player, Andrey Rublev, in straight sets. Del Potro was a Shanghai finalist in 2013, when he lost in straight sets to three-time champion Novak Djokovic.

Following that match, No. 4 seed Cilic faces off against Steve Johnson, who is one of three Americans remaining (John Isner, Querrey) in the third round for the first time in tournament history (since 2009). Cilic is 3-0 against Johnson. Should Cilic win, he'll match his best performance at the event (quarter-finalist in 2012). The third remaining American, Isner, faces Viktor Troicki, who defeated fifth seed Dominic Thiem in the second round, 6-3, 3-6, 7-6(5).

In the evening session, top-seeded Nadal looks to extend his 13-match winning streak when he faces Fabio Fognini. Nadal, who reached the Shanghai final in 2009, is 9-3 lifetime against the Italian and has won their past four meetings. Of Fognini's three wins over Nadal, only one has come on hard court (two wins on clay). Fognini was a finalist two weeks ago at the St. Petersburg Open.

In the final match, Federer looks to remain unbeaten (4-0) against qualifier Alexandr Dolgopolov, who has never won a set (0-9) against the Swiss. A qualifier at this event, Dolgopolov outlasted Feliciano Lopez over three sets in his last match. Before this event, Dolgopolov had not been into the Round of 16 at any of his ATP World Tour Masters 1000 appearances this year.