Kazakhstan's top-ranked player Alexander Bublik (No. 22) advanced past the first round of the ATP-1000 Rolex Shanghai Masters in China, defeating Czech Tomas Machac (75) 6-4, 7-6 (7-4), infohub.kz reports.
In the opening game, the Kazakh pushed his opponent on serve. The players traded ten deuce points, but Bublik secured the break and then held to love for a 2-0 lead. Machac could not recover for the rest of the set, which ended 6-4.
In the second set, after trading breaks, the opponents reached a tiebreak. Bublik did not let his chance slip in the 13th game. The final score was 6-4, 7-6 (7-4) in 1 hour 23 minutes. Aces: 18-4, double faults: 1-2, total points: 82-65.
In the second round, Alexander will face Brandon Nakashima (19), who beat Italian Matteo Berrettini (46) 7-6 (7-4), 7-5 in his opener. In September, the Japanese player and the Kazakh teamed up for Team World at the Laver Cup. In doubles, they lost to Norway's Casper Ruud and Germany's Alexander Zverev 4-6, 6-7 (7-9). The two have not yet met across the net.
Bublik (208) has also entered the Chinese Masters in doubles. In the first round, he and Ben Shelton (125) of the United States will take on the Belarusian-Russian pair Ivan Liutarevich (91)/Daniil Medvedev (352).
Timofey Skatov (210) could have joined Bublik in the Shanghai singles draw, but lost in the second round of qualifying to Australian Bernard Tomic (185) 5-7, 4-6.
The Rolex Shanghai Masters (sponsor name) is a prestigious ATP-1000 men's tennis tournament with a prize fund of $9.4 million. The only Masters-1000 event outside North America and Europe, it took its current form in 2009.
The record holder for hard-court wins in Shanghai, Serbia's Novak Djokovic, has triumphed here four times. Britain's Andy Murray has won the trophy three times, and Switzerland's Roger Federer twice. Russians Nikolay Davydenko and Daniil Medvedev, Poland's Hubert Hurkacz, and Italy's Jannik Sinner have also left with the top prize.
Defending champion Valentin Vacherot of Monaco defeated France's Arthur Rinderknech 4-6, 6-3, 6-3 in last year's final. Notably, in the second round of Shanghai 2025, Vacherot, then a qualifier, beat our Bublik 3-6, 6-3, 6-4.