Shanghai - 09/10
Good morning and welcome back to TIE-Breakfast: all the tennis you need with your breakfast.
Ace Cream's daily newsletter during Masters 1000s and Grand Slams, every morning at 8:30, moved up to 6:00 every morning for this tournament.
Today is Friday 9 October, in Shanghai it's 12:00 and it's 126 degrees. OK, let's go.
On today's breakfast menu
- 🇮🇹 Arnaldi drops four games to Tomic
- 🇵🇱 Hurkacz beats Duckworth and meets Djokovic today
- 🇬🇷 Tsitsipas beats Coppejans and faces Darderi
- 🇨🇳 Bu beats Van Assche in straight sets
- 🇮🇹 Cobolli, Berrettini and Musetti in action today, Djokovic vs Hurkacz
WHAT HAPPENED YESTERDAY:
🇮🇹 Arnaldi Beats Tomic in Straight Sets
Matteo Arnaldi beat Bernard Tomic 6-3, 6-1.
Against an opponent who shortens points and changes pace often, the risk was getting dragged into a choppy match played on Tomic's terms. Arnaldi gave him four games in two sets and reaches the second round with little wear on his legs.
🇵🇱 Hurkacz Beats Duckworth and Draws Djokovic
Hubert Hurkacz beat James Duckworth 6-3, 7-6(4). The 2023 champion arrived in Shanghai after retiring from the Beijing semifinal against De Minaur. Today he faces Djokovic.
The Beijing retirement left doubts about his condition, and a match finished in two sets is at least a partial answer. The second-set tiebreak shows Duckworth hung in until the end. Against Djokovic, serve alone usually isn't enough.
🇬🇷 Tsitsipas Beats Coppejans and Draws Darderi
Stefanos Tsitsipas beat Belgium's Kimmer Coppejans 6-3, 7-5. In the second round he plays Luciano Darderi, No. 18 seed.
The 7-5 in the second set shows Coppejans stayed in the match longer than the first set suggests. Against Darderi the match will have a different rhythm: the Italian pushes from the baseline with consistency and will force Tsitsipas to defend more often.
🇨🇳 Bu Beats Van Assche in Straight Sets
Bu Yunchaokete beat France's Luca Van Assche 7-6(3), 6-3.
After the quarterfinals in Hangzhou and the set he took off Djokovic in Beijing, Bu is putting together an Asian autumn that, judging by the results, is no accident. On the same day Cameron Norrie lost to Dalibor Svrcina, 6-3, 3-6, 6-4, while Juan Manuel Cerundolo beat Nicolas Mejia 6-4, 6-4 and meets Carlos Alcaraz in the second round.
WHAT'S ON TODAY:
- Shelton vs Altmaier - At 06:00 Italian time. After coming back to beat Rune in his opener, Altmaier faces No. 3 seed Shelton, whom he already beat this year on the clay of Hamburg. On hard courts the American's serve carries more weight.
- Cobolli vs Mannarino - At 06:00 Italian time. Cobolli opens against the left-handed Frenchman, who at 38 still changes the rhythm with low, slow trajectories. De Minaur and Zverev are in his quarter of the draw.
- Zverev vs Wu - Around 07:30 Italian time. The No. 1 seed against the Chinese player, who comes off a win over Michael Zheng and will have the crowd entirely on his side.
- Berrettini vs Nakashima - After beating Kovacevic, Berrettini faces the No. 16 seed, a player who returns well and doesn't give away much from the baseline.
- Djokovic vs Hurkacz - Not before 12:00 Italian time. Djokovic, four-time Shanghai champion and No. 10 seed, comes off the win in Beijing. The question is whether Hurkacz's serve holds up against Djokovic's return.
- Musetti vs Zhou - Around 13:30 Italian time. Musetti returns to court after the small fracture in the ring finger of his right hand that kept him out of Tokyo, against the Chinese player born in 2005 who beat Bellucci in his opener. How the hand responds will matter more than the score.
Further reading
- Hubert Hurkacz earns Shanghai date with Novak Djokovic
- ATP Shanghai 2026, Friday 9 October schedule: when Berrettini, Cobolli and Musetti play
- ATP Shanghai 2026, main draw announced
Enjoy your breakfast and have a great day.
See you tomorrow at 6:00 with TIE-Breakfast
