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The Shanghai Rolex Masters today announced that US Open junior’s boys champion, China’s Wu Yibing and rising young Canadian Denis Shapovalov have been awarded the first wild cards to Asia’s biggest men’s tournament and only ATP Masters 1000.

“These two young men have produced some outstanding tennis this year and it is exciting to watch them taking their early steps on the world tour,” Tournament Director Michael Luevano said. “Wu Yibing became the first Chinese player to win the US Open junior boys title and in fact accomplished a rare double by also winning the junior boy’s doubles title.

Chinese tennis has been very successful over recent years in the women’s game and the sport in this country has been waiting to see players on the men’s side start to make a breakthrough. Wu Yibing could be just the player to do that. He followed up his US Open title by winning the Road to the Shanghai Rolex Masters Challenger and by getting to the final became the youngest Asian born player to achieve such a milestone in a decade.

“Denis meanwhile has made impressive strides on the ATP World Tour. In the last couple of months he has had wins over very big names including Rafa Nadal and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga. He is an exciting player to watch and tennis fans in Shanghai will certainly get a thrill to see him in action.”

17 year old Wu is from Hangzhou; he recently reached a career high ranking of 320 (currently 321). This year he also reached the semis of the Chengdu Challenger, won the Anning Futures and made the semis of the Futures event in Majadahnda, Spain.

Shapovalov is just a year older at 18. The left-handed Canadian became the youngest player to reach the quarters and semis of an ATP Masters 1000 since the category of tournament was created in 1990. He reached a career high ranking of 51 (currently 52) having started the year at 250.

He came though the qualifying rounds at the US Open to reach the last 16 upsetting Tsonga along the way. He was a semi-finalist in Montreal where he stunned Nadal and Juan Martin Del Potro and cracked the world’s top 100 in August.

Shapovalov won Challengers in Drummondville and Gatineau, made the final of the Guadalajara Challenger and made the quarters or better at another two Challengers.

Welcome to the 9th Edition of the Shanghai Rolex Masters, one of the world’s biggest tennis tournaments and the only such tournament to be staged outside North America and Europe. The ShanghaiRolex Masters, is one of only nine ATP Masters 1000 tournaments in the world and is the culmination and feature event of the Asian Swing. The Shanghai Rolex Masters, was named ATP Masters 1000 Tournament of the Year for 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2013.
HOW THE DRAW WORKS

The singles is a 56 draw which means the top eight seeds get first round byes. It is elimination from the first round. There are four wild cards, determined by the tournament directors and seven qualifiers who come through a 28 qualifying draw.

In doubles, it is a 24 draw which means the eight seeds have first round byes. It is also elimination from the first round.

A total of 99 matches will be played—55 in singles, 23 in doubles and 21 in qualifying.
MATCH DETAILS

In singles each match is the best of three tie-break sets. Each set is the first to six games with an advantage of two games eg: 6-4. However if the score reaches 6-6 in a set the 12 point tie-break is played. A player can only win the set if he wins the tie-break by two clear points. The farthest a set can go on the ATP World Tour before a tie-break is 7-5.

In doubles the first two sets are the same as in singles but if the match is locked at one set all the teams will play a Match tie-break—the first to ten points with an advantage of two clear points.
PRIZE MONEY

Total prize money for the Shanghai Rolex Masters is $US7,655,640.
THE TROPHIES

The stunning trophies were designed and created by world famous Royal Selangor Pewter. Three trophies were designed and it went to a public vote via the tournament website to determine the trophy that would be presented. The trophy signifies the roof over Qi Zhong Stadium which is known as the Magnolia Roof. It is a perpetual trophy with the new champions receiving a replica trophy.
RANKING POINTS

In addition to the wonderful Royal Selangor Pewter trophies and the prize money, the players also play for vital points for their world ranking. As the Shanghai Rolex Masters is an ATP Masters 1000 event, it means that the winner will earn 1000 ranking points however points start from the first round—a player losing in the singles first round still earns 10 points.
COURT SURFACE

The hard court surface used at Qi Zhong is called Deco-Turf.
ELECTRONIC LINE CHALLENGING

The Hawk-Eye System is used on the center court. Shanghai was the first city in Asia to use the system. During a set a player receives three incorrect challenges, if a player gets a challenge wrong their number of challenges drops by one until the challenges run out. If the set goes to a tie-break the players receive an additional challenge. A challenge is shown on giant screens atop of center court and everyone can track the trajectory of the ball and where it lands.

LACOSTE JOINS SHANGHAI ROLEX MASTERS FAMILY
Lacoste and the Shanghai Rolex Masters announced that the prestigious French sports and fashion brand will be the official and exclusive partner at Asia’s only ATP Masters 1000 tournament and will clothe all officials of the tournament and lines-people at Qi Zhong Tennis Stadium.

Starting with the 2017 edition, Lacoste will also be visible on the courts with banners. This five-year partnership also includes two sales areas at the tournament venue.

“We are proud to be one of the official partners of the Shanghai Rolex Masters. This tournament perfectly matches with the DNA of Lacoste brand and its global strategy in Asia. This partnership will contribute to develop and strengthen the presence of our brand in this region and especially in China, one of our main markets.” Thierry Guibert, President of Lacoste Group, said.

Wimbledon 2017

Tournament Director Michael Luevano said: “We are very pleased to welcome Lacoste on board. It is a brand that is synonymous with world tennis with its style and history. The Shanghai Rolex Masters looks forward to a tremendous partnership with such a global brand.”

With a unique heritage in the world of sport, based on its origins and that of its founder: renowned tennis champion René Lacoste, the French brand is an active partner in tennis and golf. Lacoste values of integrity, performance and elegance are today embodied by players and ambassadors such as Novak Djokovic, Dominika Cibulkova, Roberto Bautista-Agut, Alizé Cornet, Gustavo Kuerten, Mats Wilander and Guy Forget.

Based on its authentic sports roots, Lacoste is represented today by over a hundred tennis and golf champions from more than 20 different nationalities and strengthens its heritage in tennis through world renowned events such as Roland Garros, the Miami Open and the ATP Finals.

DRAW DONE FOR 2017 SHANGHAI ROLEX MASTERS
This year’s Shanghai Rolex Masters draw is being led by two familiar faces with world No. 1 Rafael Nadal of Spain and No. 2 Roger Federer of Switzerland.

Standing tall and proud for the over-30 set, the 31-year-old Nadal and 36-year-old Federer could provide an enticing potential final scenario for Shanghai tennis fans. If these two megastars can both journey to the finals it would be their 38th meeting with Nadal holding a 23-14 winning edge.

But as everyone knows the final is a distant six rounds away and there are many talented players in the draw, besides Nadal and Federer, who are capable of hoisting the stunning Selangor trophy that depicts the roof of QiZhong Stadium.

SHANGHAI ROLEX MASTERS DRAWTENNIS - ROLEX SHANGHAI MASTERS - QI ZHONG TENNIS CENTRE - MINHANG DISTRICT - SHANGHAI - CHINA - ATP 1000 - 2017

Nadal, a Shanghai finalist in 2009, has a number of prospective difficult opponents in his half of the draw. He could be looking at a quarterfinal showdown with sixth seed Grigor Dimitrov of Bulgaria, which would see them square off for the second straight week.

In the semifinals, Nadal is seeded to play fourth seed Marin Cilic of Croatia, this year’s Wimbledon finalist; 11th seed Kevin Anderson of South Africa, the recent U.S. Open finalist; or 13th seeded Aussie Nick Kyrgios.

Federer’s half of the draw is set up for a quarterfinal outing with Belgian David Goffin, but players such as last year’s runner-up, ninth seed Roberto Bautista Agut of Spain and 14th seeded American Jack Sock could cause some problems as well as recent U.S. Open quarterfinalist Diego Schwartzman of Argentina.

The semifinals offers a tough lineup if Federer, the 2015 Shanghai Rolex Masters champion, journeys that far. Possible competitors are third seed German sensation Alexander Zverev, Austria’s fifth seed Dominic Thiem and 16th seed Juan Martin del Potro of Argentina.

SHANGHAI ROLEX MASTERS DRAW TENNIS - ROLEX SHANGHAI MASTERS - QI ZHONG TENNIS CENTRE - MINHANG DISTRICT - SHANGHAI - CHINA - ATP 1000 - 2017

Thiem, who was an official guest at the draw ceremony held at the Rolex Experience located on Shanghai’s world famous Bund, will play either Viktor Troicki of Serbia or 18-year-old wildcard recipient Denis Shapovalov of Canada in the second round.

Shapovalov has been experiencing coming-of-age moments in tennis the last couple of months; he has made quite a noise by reaching the ATP Masters 1000 Montreal semifinals and the U.S. Open fourth round.

“It’s always tough draws in the Masters 1000 events,” Thiem said. “I didn’t expect an easy one and I know it’s going to be very difficult. I practiced with Denis a couple of times. He’s played an outstanding summer in Canada and at the U.S. Open. Definitely he’s a big champion of the future.”

Thiem had an actual role in the official draw by selecting a few of the player-named chips out of the jar for placement in the draw. Thiem was responsible for picking who Chinese wildcard recipient Zhang Ze, another draw guest, would play.

SHANGHAI ROLEX MASTERS DRAW TENNIS - ROLEX SHANGHAI MASTERS - QI ZHONG TENNIS CENTRE - MINHANG DISTRICT - SHANGHAI - CHINA - ATP 1000 - 2017

When the name Ryan Harrison of the U.S. came out of the box, Thiem looked to Zhang and gestured with his hand a thumbs up and thumbs down sign.

Later, Zhang offered this assessment of his first round opponent: “For me, this is okay. I think Harrison is a good player and I know him because we are the same year starting.”

On the eve of the 2017 Shanghai Rolex Masters, there is one guarantee ahead; with a world-class field on hand the tennis is bound to provide exciting competition.