ATP Tour

Berrettini, former Shanghai semi-finalist, earns comeback R1 win

Former semi-finalist Matteo Berrettini made a winning start at the Rolex Shanghai Masters on Wednesday, when he battled back to down Aleksandar Kovacevic 6-7(3), 6-1, 6-4 and reach the second round.

The Italian has fond memories at the ATP Masters 1000 event, having reached the semi-finals in Shanghai in 2019. Berrettini, who arrives in China off the back of second-round defeats at the US Open and in Tokyo, fired 23 aces and did not face a break point against Kovacevic, according to Infosys ATP Stats and will next face American Brandon Nakashima.

"I didn't let myself down and I fought back and I kept playing and that was the reaction I wanted. I am really proud of it," Berrettini said on his fightback.

Tomas Machac, another former semi-finalist in Shanghai, also returned with a three-set win on Wednesday. The Czech, who stunned Carlos Alcaraz en route to the last four in 2024, rallied past home hope Zhang Zhizhen 1-6, 7-6(3), 6-2. Machac set a second-round meeting with 19th seed Alexander Bublik, who leads their Lexus ATP Head2Head series 2-0.

Rei Sakamoto earned an important win in his bid to qualify for the Next Gen ATP Finals by surging past Marco Trungelliti 6-3, 7-5 for his first main-draw win at the event. With his victory, the 20-year-old qualifier jumped two spots to fifth in the PIF ATP Live Race To Reggio Calabria. Another Next Gen ATP Finals hopeful, fourth-placed Federico Cina, was unable to follow suit as the 19-year-old fell to Alex Molcan in three sets.

Sakamoto will next face 23rd seed Andrey Rublev, while Molcan takes on Beijing finalist Alex de Minaur.

Arthur Gea continued his good form with a 6-7(3), 6-1, 6-2 victory against Jaime Faria. The Frenchman Gea lifted his first ATP Tour title in Los Cabos in August and then reached the fourth round at the US Open as a lucky loser. Last week in Beijing, the 21-year-old came through qualifying to reach the second round. Gea will take on countryman Ugo Humbert in the second round in Shanghai.

In other Day 1 action at the penultimate Masters 1000 event of the season, Miomir Kecmanovic beat Sho Shimabukuro 6-2, 6-4, while Adrian Mannarino advanced when Nikoloz Basilashvili was forced to retire when trailing Mannarino 3-6, 2-2. Kecmanovic will next play Jakub Mensik and Mannarino will take on sixth seed Flavio Cobolli.