Federer and Del Potro in same half of Shanghai Masters
Roger Federer and Juan Martin Del Potro have been drawn in the same half of the 2018 Rolex Shanghai Masters, while Chinese wildcards Wu Yibing and Li Zhe meet in the first round.
The main draw for the ATP 1000 tournament was held at Kunlun Hotel on Saturday morning, attended by 6th seed Dominic Thiem from Austria, France's Gilles Simon and Wu Yibing.
First seed and defending champion Federer from Switzerland, has third seed Argentine Del Potro in his half and might have to conquer players such as Canadian Milos Roanic and Japan’s Kei Nishikori on route to a potential clash with Del Potro.
The other half is led by second seed Serbian Novak Djokovic and fourth seed Alexander Zverev from Germany, which also features players like fifth seed Marin Cilic from Croatia and seventh seed Kevin Anderson from South Africa.
Three Chinese players entered the singles main draw as wildcard holders — Wu Yibing, Li Zhe and Zhang Ze.
Wu, 18, was runner-up at the 2018 Asian Games. He made his name by winning both the boys’ singles and doubles titles at the 2017 US Open. He fell to Simon on his Masters debut in the singles last year in Shanghai, but managed to advance to the second round of doubles, partnering local player Wu Di.
This year, Wu will take on compatriot Li Zhe in the first round. Li, 32, was awarded with the wildcard after becoming the only Chinese player to advance to the last-four of the Shanghai Challengers. The winner of the Chinese derby match will take on eighth seed Nishikori in the second round.
Zhang Ze won this year’s Chengdu Challenger, his second Challenger title. He will take on Russia’s Daniil Medvedev in the first round, and the winner will set up a second-round clash with Federer.
In Saturday’s qualifying matches, three-time National Games winner Wu Di lost 4-6, 2-6 to Matteo Berrettini from Italy. Last year, Wu became the first Chinese player to win both his singles and doubles first-round matches at the Shanghai tournament. After an early exit this year, he will partner Li Zhe for the doubles.
Chinese qualifier wildcard holders Zhang Zhizhen and Te Rigele also failed to advance to the main draw after Saturday’s matches. Zhang lost 3-6, 6-7(6) to Joao Sousa from Portugal, while Te lost 3-6, 4-6 to Martin Klizan from Slovakia.
Saturday marks Family Day of the Shanghai tournament. Federer showed up at the Center Court to meet fans and young players.