ATP Shanghai Winners & Losers: Jannik Sinner leaves Carlos Alcaraz behind, Novak Djokovic punishes ATP Finals rivals
The 2024 Shanghai Masters has come to a close, and the penultimate ATP 1000 tournament of the season did not disappoint.
Jannik Sinner continued his outstanding 2024 campaign by beating Novak Djokovic in the final as the last event of the ATP Asian swing served up a range of intriguing storylines.
Big Winners
Jannik Sinner: The Italian star delivered a clinical performance to become the first player to beat Djokovic in a Shanghai final — and he did it without facing a break point.
Sinner’s 7-6(4), 6-3 triumph against Djokovic saw him secure his seventh ATP title this year, with three of these crowns coming at Masters 1000 level. The 23-year-0ld dropped just one set in his six matches in Shanghai — a perfect reaction to his loss to Carlos Alcaraz in an epic China Open final.
During his Shanghai run, Sinner guaranteed that he will finish the year as the world No 1 for the first time in his career. This had seemed a formality for some time, but to clinch it with over a month of the season remaining underlines Sinner’s ATP Tour dominance in 2024.
Novak Djokovic: The Serbian icon missed the chance to win a milestone 100th ATP title, but reaching his third final in what has been a challenging 2024 season was encouraging. In his first tournament since a shock US Open third round defeat, Djokovic found perhaps his second-highest level of the year behind his brilliant Olympic gold medal run.
The 37-year-old capitalised on the struggles and absence of his main rivals for ATP Finals qualification in Shanghai, with his run lifting him to sixth in the Race to Turin.
ATP News
Tomas Machac: The talented Czech progressed to his maiden ATP Masters 1000 semi-final before losing to Sinner in two close sets. Machac came from a set and a break down to see off world No 13 Tommy Paul in the last 16.
In the quarter-finals, Machac stunned Carlos Alcaraz 7-6(5), 7-5 to earn the most impressive win of his career and end the Spaniard’s eight-match winning streak. The 24-year-old’s forehand was particularly devastating against Alcaraz.
Jakub Mensik: Another Czech who had a great tournament in Shanghai is rising star Jakub Mensik, who reached his first Masters 1000 quarter-final.
The 19-year-old overcame both Andrey Rublev and Grigor Dimitrov for the second time this year. Mensik also took a set off Djokovic, his idol, in an entertaining last eight encounter.
David Goffin: Former world No 7 David Goffin continued his recent resurgence by reaching his first Masters 1000 quarter-final since 2021. The 33-year-old Belgian downed world No 3 Alexander Zverev in the fourth round for his first top 10 win in two years.
Big Losers
Carlos Alcaraz: Following his superb victory at the China Open, a quarter-final exit in Shanghai was by no means a disaster for Alcaraz, but it was a missed opportunity to set up a semi-final matchup with Sinner.
Another win over the Italian, who Alcaraz has a 3-0 record against this year, would have kept the player of the season debate very much alive. Eclipsing Sinner in 2024 now seems a very tall order for the Spaniard, while his slim hopes of a year-end No 1 finish are also gone.
Casper Ruud and Andrey Rublev: Casper Ruud and Andrey Rublev started Shanghai sixth and seventh in the ATP Finals Race respectively, but the pair have both dropped a place after their disappointing opening round exits. The Norwegian and the Russian remain in the qualification spots, but they failed to make their positions more secure.
Grigor Dimitrov: Grigor Dimitrov, meanwhile, now faces a difficult task to qualify for Turin after his last 16 loss to Mensik in Shanghai. The Bulgarian is 10th in the Race and 645 points adrift of Rublev in the eighth and final qualification spot — a big deficit at this stage of the season.
Frances Tiafoe, Alexander Zverev and Stefanos Tsitispas: It was a tough tournament for the officials in Shanghai, with umpires on the receiving end of outbursts from Frances Tiafoe, Alexander Zverev and Stefanos Tsitispas.
Tiafoe furiously swore at the chair umpire after his third round loss to Roman Safiullin due to a time violation he was given in the third set tiebreak. The American later apologised and expressed his disappointment at his behaviour.
In another third round match, Zverev claimed officials were “f***ing up the whole tournament” after umpire Mohamed Lahyani correctly ruled a Tallon Griekspoor shot had bounced twice before the German reached it.
Zverev also complained about how many matches he has played this year and even declared: “Every Grand Slam final I play, I am losing because of your guys’ mistake.”
Tsitispas, meanwhile, ranted at umpire Fergus Murphy after being given a time violation during his fourth round defeat to Daniil Medvedev, claiming umpires have been “against” him in the last few months. After the match, the Greek said to Murphy: “I hope you get fired.”
READ NEXT: Emma Raducanu quits early and Novak Djokovic strikes back – final weeks of 2024
