Carlos Alcaraz is already in Shanghai, where on Saturday he will debut in the penultimate Masters 1000 of the season. As the first seed, the player from Murcia will not be able to play in the first round, so his first match will come in the second, and it is against Gregoire Barrere, who defeated Nuno Borges 6-2, 6-2 this Thursday.
The Frenchman, number 73 in the world and he has never facedwill be the first obstacle on the path of the Wimbledon champion to the title and also to his great goal at the end of the year: to snatch the number 1 from Novak Djokovic, not on this Asian tour.
On this occasion, Unlike in recent tournaments, luck smiled on Alcaraz in the draw of the Shanghai Masters 1000, as he eluded the rivals who preoccupied him the most until a hypothetical final.
If he beats Barrere, world number 2 could face Daniel Evans in the third round. In the round of 16, Grigor Dimitrov or Karen Khachanov will appear in their waywhile Taylor Fritz or Frances Tiafoe (both appearing in Shanghai after the Laver Cup) appear as more likely opponents in the quarterfinals.
If we say Alcaraz is lucky, it is because of the hypothetical semifinal match, where avoid players of the caliber of Jannik Sinner, Alexander Zverev, Holger Rune or Casper Ruud.
His hypothetical rival will emerge from the rivalry that will face two of the players with the worst streaks today in the quarterfinals: Stefanos Tsitsipas and Andrey Rublev.
So that, Daniil Medvedev had to face the toughest half of the drawwith Zverev, Sinner or Shelton as rivals in the quarterfinals or Ruud and Rune in the semifinals.
The Shanghai Masters 1000, penultimate of the season, began this Wednesday with the first round of matches, while the 32 seeds will enter the competition between Friday and Saturday. The final will be played on Sunday, October 15.
Source: La Verdad
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