2023 Shanghai Masters ATP Draw With Alcaraz, Medvedev, Zverev & more
The 2023 Shanghai Masters is the penultimate Masters tournament on the ATP calendar, and the draw for this prestigious event has been released.
It is pertinent to note that the 2023 edition will have a midweek start because it will be a 12-day event featuring an expanded draw size of up to 96 players in the singles field. That means all the top 32 seeds will have a bye in the first round.
A lot has happened since its last staging in 2019. Two of its former champions who competed that year miss out. Roger Federer officially retired from the sport in 2022, while the most decorated champion in the event's history Novak Djokovic chose to rest during the Asian swing.
The tournament's defending champion is Daniil Medvedev who leads the bottom half of this year's draw. He'll start his title defense in the second-round stage against one of Cristian Garin or a qualifier. A third-round meeting against his Australian Open nemesis Sebastian Korda is on the horizon provided both players evade their openers.
Medvedev is projected to meet third-seed Holger Rune or eighth-seed Casper Ruud in the semifinal. But one of the Scandinavian duo faces a treacherous road to get there. Ruud who is set to open up against the winner of the match between Daniel Altmaier and Yoshihito Nishioka could run into 29th seed Christopher Eubanks in the third round.
Rune's path to a a quarterfinal showdown against Ruud is a little more complicated given his current lacklustre form. He'll start his Shanghai adventure against Brandon Nakashima who is likely to win a first-round match against Spain clay-courter Bernabe Zapata Miralles.
Rune has a losing record against the American from last year's Next Gen Finals. But in the event he is successful, he could play any of Richard Gasquet, Zhizhen Zhang, or Tomas Martin Etcheverry. On talent, Rune is expected to clear that hurdle, but form could dictate his fate.
Sixth seed Jannik Sinner has a bye in the first round and will start his tournament against one of Marcos Giron or Daniel Elahi Galan. Sinner, Medvedev, and Alexander Zverev are in the same bracket in the bottom half.
Zverev has a tough path by the looks of things. We could see a Chengdu final rematch between Zverev and Roman Safiullin, provided the Russian is able to fend off the challenge of 2016 champion Andy Murray in the first round. A popcorn third-rounder against Ben Shelton could be on the cards for the big-serving German.
In that case, the young American's fitness could probably give him the edge over Zverev and set up a likely showdown against Sinner in the fourth round. The projected quarterfinal here is Medvedev and Sinner locking horns and it is tough to dispute it.
Moving to the top half, we find Carlos Alcaraz. Not only is the top seed gunning for his first Shanghai title, but also the chance to overtake Novak Djokovic in the ATP Race. Alcaraz will start his campaign against one of Nuno Borges or Gregoire Barrere.
His third-round opponent could be one of Dan Evans, Alexandre Muller, or a qualifier. Evans and Muller have both lost to Alcaraz this season. The most dangerous opponent Alcaraz could face before the quarterfinal is Karen Khachanov, seeded 13th, who recently returned to the winners' podium after winning in Zhuhai.
Alcaraz is projected to meet seventh seed Taylor Fritz in the last eight, but this section is extremely open, with one of Frances Tiafoe and Nicolas Jarry expected to abandon those plans if they run into Fritz. Regardless, Alcaraz should be the odds-on favorite to reach the semifinal whoever he draws from that list.
In the second section of the top half, we could a collision course between Andrey Rublev and Stefanos Tstsipas. This is significant for ATP Finals qualification. Less than 200 points separate the pair sitting in fifth and sixth respectively, and it might come to a shootout between them in the quarterfinals.
Tsitsipas' opening match could be against Laslo Djere, whom he has a perfect 4-0 record at all levels. Rublev could play either Aslan Karatsev or Quentin Halys. Some of the notable first-round matches include Murray taking on Safiullin and Stan Wawrinka facing fellow one-hander Dusan Lajovic.
In the top half, Matteo Arnaldi squaring off against Alexei Popyrin is a match to whet our appetite. For a comprehensive draw of the 2023 Shanghai Masters and projected matchups, be sure to check it down below.
2023 Shanghai Masters ATP Draw:
| 1. Carlos Alcaraz (1) |
| 2. BYE |
| 3. Nuno Borges |
| 4. Gregoire Barrere |
| 5. Qualifier |
| 6. Alexandre Muller |
| 7. BYE |
| 8. Daniel Evans (30) |
| 9. Grigor Dimitrov (18) |
| 10. BYE |
| 11. Aleksandar Vukic |
| 12. Roberto Carballes Baena |
| 13. Qualifier |
| 14. Qualifier |
| 15. BYE |
| 16. Karen Khachanov (13) |
| 17. Frances Tiafoe (10) |
| 18. BYE |
| 19. Qualifier |
| 20. Lorenzo Sonego |
| 21. Jordan Thompson |
| 22. Qualifier |
| 23. BYE |
| 24. Nicolas Jarry (22) |
| 25. Jiri Lehecka (27) |
| 26. BYE |
| 27. Diego Schwartzman |
| 28. Luca Van Assche |
| 29. Yosuke Watanuki |
| 30. Juncheng Shang |
| 31. BYE |
| 32. Taylor Fritz (7) |
| 33. Stefanos Tsitsipas (4) |
| 34. BYE |
| 35. Qualifier |
| 36. Laslo Djere |
| 37. Botic van de Zandschulp |
| 38. Christopher O'Connell |
| 39. BYE |
| 40. Ugo Humbert (32) |
| 41. Jan-Lennard Struff (21) |
| 42. BYE |
| 43. Alexei Popyrin |
| 44. Matteo Arnaldi |
| 45. J.J. Wolf |
| 46. Pedro Cachin |
| 47. BYE |
| 48. Cameron Norrie (15) |
| 49. Tommy Paul (12) |
| 50. BYE |
| 51. Juan Pablo Varillas |
| 52. Sebastian Ofner |
| 53. Pavel Kotov |
| 54. Arthur Fils |
| 55. BYE |
| 56. Alejandro Davidovich Fokina (24) |
| 57. Adrian Mannarino (31) |
| 58. BYE |
| 59. Alexander Shevchenko |
| 60. Qualifier |
| 61. Aslan Karatsev |
| 62. Quentin Halys |
| 63. BYE |
| 64. Andrey Rublev (5) |
| 65. Casper Ruud (8) |
| 66. BYE |
| 67. Daniel Altmaier |
| 68. Yoshihito Nishioka |
| 69. Qualifier |
| 70. Yannick Hanfmann |
| 71. BYE |
| 72. Christopher Eubanks (29) |
| 73. Tallon Griekspoor (23) |
| 74. BYE |
| 75. Dusan Lajovic |
| 76. Stan Wawrinka |
| 77. Arthur Rinderknech |
| 78. Fabian Marozsan |
| 79. BYE |
| 80. Alex de Minaur (11) |
| 81. Hubert Hurkacz (16) |
| 82. BYE |
| 83. Thanasi Kokkinakis |
| 84. Fabio Fognini |
| 85. Max Purcell |
| 86. Qualifier |
| 87. BYE |
| 88. Lorenzo Musetti (17) |
| 89. Tomas Martin Etcheverry (28) |
| 90. BYE |
| 91. Zhizhen Zhang |
| 92. Richard Gasquet |
| 93. Brandon Nakashima |
| 94. Bernabe Zapata Miralles |
| 95. BYE |
| 96. Holger Rune (3) |
| 97. Jannik Sinner (6) |
| 98. BYE |
| 99. Marcos Giron |
| 100. Daniel Elahi Galan |
| 101. Qualifier |
| 102. Taro Daniel |
| 103. BYE |
| 104. Sebastian Baez (25) |
| 105. Ben Shelton (19) |
| 106. BYE |
| 107. Jaume Munar |
| 108. Rigele Te |
| 109. Roman Safiullin |
| 110. Andy Murray |
| 111. BYE |
| 112. Alexander Zverev (9) |
| 113. Felix Auger-Aliassime (14) |
| 114. BYE |
| 115. Qualifier |
| 116. Marton Fucsovics |
| 117. Corentin Moutet |
| 118. Mackenzie McDonald |
| 119. BYE |
| 120. Francisco Cerundolo (20) |
| 121. Sebastian Korda (26) |
| 122. BYE |
| 123. Miomir Kecmanovic |
| 124. Yunchaokete Bu |
| 125. Qualifier |
| 126. Cristian Garin |
| 127. BYE |
| 128. Daniil Medvedev (2) |
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