Bublik and Shelton fall to Ljutarevich and Medvedev in Shanghai doubles

Kazakhstan's Alexander Bublik (No. 208) and American Ben Shelton (No. 125) failed to get past the first round of the doubles at the ATP 1000 Rolex Shanghai Masters, losing to the Belarusian-Russian pair of Ivan Ljutarevich (No. 91) and Daniil Medvedev (No. 352) 4-6, 3-6, according to infohub.kz.

In the opening set, Ljutarevich and Medvedev converted one break point, and in the second set they converted two. Bublik and Shelton failed to break serve throughout the match. The match lasted just 49 minutes. The winners took 57 points, while their opponents took 37.

A day earlier, Bublik (No. 22) had a successful start in singles, defeating Czech Tomas Machac (No. 75) 6-4, 6-4. Shelton (No. 4) in turn beat German Daniel Altmaier (No. 67) 6-3, 7-6 (8-6). The doubles partners could meet in the quarterfinals.

In the second round of the singles draw, Alexander will face Japan's Brandon Nakashima (No. 19), who defeated Italian Matteo Berrettini (No. 46) 7-6 (7-4), 7-5 in the first round.

Timofey Skatov (No. 210) could have joined Bublik in the singles draw in Shanghai, but in the second round of qualifying he lost to Australian Bernard Tomic (No. 185) 5-7, 4-6.

The Rolex Shanghai Masters (sponsor name) is a prestigious men's tennis tournament in the ATP 1000 series with a prize fund of $9.4 million. It is the only Masters 1000 event outside North America and Europe, having adopted its current format in 2009.

The record holder for hard-court wins in Shanghai is Novak Djokovic (8), who has won the tournament four times. At the current event, the Serb lost in his first match to Poland's Hubert Hurkacz (No. 34) 4-6, 3-6.

Britain's Andy Murray has won the main trophy three times, and Switzerland's Roger Federer twice. Besides them, winners include Russians Nikolay Davydenko and Daniil Medvedev, the aforementioned Pole Hurkacz, and Italian Jannik Sinner.

Defending champion Valentin Vacherot of Monaco defeated France's Arthur Rinderknech in last year's final 4-6, 6-3, 6-3. Notably, in the second round of Shanghai 2025, Vacherot, as a qualifier, beat our Bublik 3-6, 6-3, 6-4.