Kazakhstan's Timofey Skatov (world No. 210) failed to reach the main draw of the ATP-1000 tournament in Shanghai, losing in the second round of qualifying to Australia's Bernard Tomic (185) 5-7, 4-6, infohub.kz reports.
After missing out on medals at the Asian Games, Skatov traveled to Shanghai alongside his Nagoya doubles partner Alexander Shevchenko. Both Kazakhs lost in qualifying for the only Asian Masters: Shevchenko in the first round, Skatov in the second.
Skatov opened with a 6-3, 6-2 win over Greece's Stefanos Sakellaridis (135). Against the Australian, he stayed level until 5-5 but dropped serve at the crucial moment, and Tomic confirmed the break for 7-5. In the second set, Bernard's break in the fifth game proved decisive, 6-4.
The match lasted 1 hour 28 minutes. Skatov hit seven aces to his opponent's five but also double-faulted twice. The total points tally was 69-62 in Tomic's favor.
Thus, unless Skatov receives lucky loser (LL) status, Alexander Bublik will remain Kazakhstan's only representative in Shanghai. The country's top player, who dropped to No. 22 in the ATP rankings on Monday, will face either China's Zhang Zhizhen (166) or Czech Tomas Machac (75) in the second round.
The doubles draw for the Shanghai tournament has not yet been released.
The Rolex Shanghai Masters (sponsor name) is a prestigious ATP-1000 men's tennis tournament with a prize fund of $9.4 million. It is the only Masters-1000 event outside North America and Europe; it took its current form in 2009.
Serbia's Novak Djokovic holds the record for most hard-court titles in Shanghai, having won four times. Britain's Andy Murray has won the main trophy three times, Switzerland's Roger Federer twice. Russians Nikolay Davydenko and Daniil Medvedev, Poland's Hubert Hurkacz, and Italy's Jannik Sinner have also left with trophies.
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 beat our Bublik 3-6, 6-3, 6-4.