Hurkacz Sets Up Fun Challenge Against Djokovic At Shanghai Masters

Hubert Hurkacz
Hubert Hurkacz (photo: Brigitte Urban)

SHANGHAI/WASHINGTON, October 8, 2026 (by Michael Dickens)

Hubert Hurkacz set up a second-round showdown of former champions with Novak Djokovic at the Rolex Shanghai Masters Thursday. The 2023 Shanghai champion from Poland, who has not competed at the penultimate ATP Masters 1000 event since he lifted the trophy three years ago after saving a match point against Andrey Rublev, fired 19 aces en route to his 6-3, 7-6 (4) victory over No. 64 James Duckworth of Australia in one hour and 22 minutes on Stadium Court at Qi Zhong Tennis Center.

Hurkacz won 80 percent (41 of 51) of his first-serve points and faced no break points on his serve. He converted his only break-point opportunity and outpointed Duckworth 72-59. His victory was his seventh consecutive win in Shanghai going back to his successful run to the title in 2023.

The 29-year-old Polish star, ranked 34th, has always enjoyed competing in Chinese ATP Tour events in this decade. He owns a 14-2 win-loss record, including runs to the Chengdu final and Beijing semifinal in the past two weeks.

On Friday evening, Hurkacz will face the No. 10 seed Djokovic, who is currently ranked World No. 8. He will take an 0-8 lifetime record into their second-round encounter.

“It’s going to be a fun challenge,” Hurkacz said during an on-court interview Thursday after improving his 2026 win-loss record to 25-19. “It’s on my list to play some good tennis against him and get a win. He’s got a few of them already. … I need to serve well, play well from the baseline and return well. He won the title [in Beijing] again. It’s always a pleasure to share the court with Novak, such a great champion.”

During his pre-tournament news conference Thursday, Djokovic said it’s been “a phenomenal week for me, Beijing, the best week of this year, no doubt.”

Djokovic strung together three consecutive wins against Top-10 opponents earlier this week, in defeating World No. 2 Alexander Zverev, World No. 6 Daniil Medvedev and World No. 9 Alex de Minaur to win the China Open title for the seventh time.

“I’m trying to build momentum on that here in Shanghai as well, use the confidence and hopefully have another great deep run in this tournament, another tournament in China where I’ve done very well in my career,” said Djokovic, who has won the Rolex Shanghai Masters in 2012, 2013, 2015 and 2018.

“So, I enjoy playing in China. I’ve said it many times, the fans, the support has been tremendous. Last week it was really something remarkable, very special in terms of the support and love that I’ve been getting from people on the stadium and outside. So, that kind of energy that I really always need as a player on the court, I try to use and perform as best as I can.”

Bu is third Chinese player to reach second round

Chinese No. 1 Bu Yunchaokete arrived in Shanghai after advancing to the quarterfinals at Hangzhou and the second round at Beijing, losing to eventual champion Novak Djokovic in three sets. On Thursday evening, the 93rd-ranked Bu took center stage on Stadium Court and defeated World No. 45 Luca Van Assche of France, 7-6 (3), 6-3, in one hour and 3 minutes.

Bu, who hit 19 winners, dropped just one point on his first serve. He won 97 percent (37 of 38) of his first-serve points and faced no break points. He outpointed Van Assche 75-56 to gain his second Top-50 victory of the season.

Bu joins fellow Chinese wild cards Wu Yibing and Zhou Yi in the second round, marking just the second time in tournament history that three Chinese players have reached the second round at Shanghai. Next, Bu will face No. 20 seed Casper Ruud of Norway.

Around the Shanghai Masters

• Qualifier Dalibor Svrcina of Czechia, ranked 126th, recorded his fourth ATP Masters 1000 win of his career with an upset of No. 40 Cameron Norrie of Great Britain, 6-3, 3-6, 6-4, in two hours and nine minutes on Stadium Court Thursday evening. 

The 24-year-old Czech, who struck 34 winners to overcome 45 unforced errors, improved to 2-10 against Top-50 opponents by breaking Norrie’s serve five times in nine tries and outpointing the British No. 2 92–87. Next, Svrcina will face No. 28 seed Tomas Martin Etcheverry of Argentina.

• No. 55 Juan Manuel Cerundolo was one of four Argentine players to advance to the second round on Thursday after defeating 119th-ranked Colombian qualifier Nicolas Mejia, 6-4, 6-4. Others from Argentina moving on the second round include: Sebastian Baez, Thiago Agustin Tirante and Camilo Ugo Carabelli.

Cerundolo’s next opponent will be recent Tokyo champion and Shanghai second seed Carlos Alcaraz on Saturday.

• Italy’s Matteo Arnaldi needed just 52 minutes to beat 185th-ranked qualifier Bernard Tomic of Australia, 6-3, 6-1, to advance against No. 11 seed Taylor Fritz of the United States. The 38th-ranked Arnaldi, a Roland-Garros semifinalist earlier this year, saved all four break points he faced and outpointed Tomic 57-35. It was Tomic’s first appearance in an ATP Masters 1000 main draw since 2019.

• No. 41 Botic van de Zandschulp of the Netherlands advanced with a 1-6, 6-3, 6-4 victory over No. 44 Daniel Merida of Spain in one hour and 48 minutes on Show Court 3. Van de Zandschulp converted all four of his break-points opportunities and outpointed Merida 84-82. Next, he will face No. 31 seed Alex Michelsen of the United States.

• Also advancing to the second round: No. 39 Zizou Bergs of Belgium, No. 51 Nuno Borges of Portugal, No. 52 Adolfo Daniel Vallejo of Paraguay, No. 59 Jan-Lennard Struff of Germany, No. 65 Pablo Carreño Busta of Spain, No. 82 Zachary Svajda of the United States, No. 102 Jenson Brooksby of the United States and 187th-ranked qualifier Pavel Kotov of Russia.

Thursday’s Shanghai Masters results

Friday’s Shanghai Masters order of play

By the numbers

At age 32 years and eight months, Kimmer Coppejans of the Netherlands is the third-oldest player to make their ATP Masters 1000 debut this century. On Thursday, the 232nd-ranked qualifier Coppejans lost to No. 43 Stefanos Tsitsipas of Greece, 6-3, 7-5, in one hour and 16 minutes on Stadium Court. It was Coppejans’ first tour-level event since Zhuhai in 2023, where he reached the second round. The loss to Tsitsipas dropped his record against Top-50 opponents to 0-10.

“Quotable …”

“Everybody in the country can feel that tennis has been developing pretty good this year, thanks to our Olympic champion Qinwen [Zheng]. I think she really inspired a lot of female kids also just to be able to know the sport, how beautiful it is.

“I think it’s also a responsibility on us, like on the male players side, that we try to do our best on court and people around us can see, okay, how good this sport is.

“Now there is also my home tournament, Hangzhou, which it’s been playing now for two or three years too. It’s a shame I missed it this year because of the Asian Games, but it’s always good to be back in China playing tournaments.

“Although we are not as lucky as the European players or the Americans, they have like a longer season in their home base. But one month, it’s a really long time, and it’s great that we have 500s, 250s, plus Masters and multiple challengers and futures for our young generation to be able to get points earlier in their career. I think China, we are having a really great future in our tennis.”

– Wu Yibing of China, during his pre-tournament news conference this week on the popularity and development of tennis in China.

 

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