China Court: six Russians to play at the Masters in Shanghai

Six Russians will compete in the main draw of the Shanghai Masters, which started on October 7. Our country has not had such a representation at the men's super tournament since April 2024, when the same number of domestic tennis players played in Rome. Daniil Medvedev, Andrey Rublev and Karen Khachanov are among the top seeds and will start the fight from the second round. Ilya Simakin, Pavel Kotov and Roman Safiullin made it through qualifying, with the latter already advancing to the second round. About the chances of Russians in Shanghai — in the material of Izvestia.

Simakin's Ascent

In the Italian capital in 2024, the same five that have now made their way to the base of Shanghai, plus Aslan Karatsev, performed. The 33-year-old Australian Open 2021 semi-finalist is currently struggling with injuries and is at the end of the second thousand of the ranking. But Ilya Simakin has improved a lot lately. Before Shanghai, the 22-year-old native of Nizhnekamsk made a series of four Challenger finals with three consecutive wins.

This successful series began in early August, when he stood at the end of the third hundred (297th place) Ilya reached the title match of the tournament in Istanbul, where he lost in three sets. After that, he never lost to anyone. From Turkey, Simakin went to Yekaterinburg for the Spartakiad of the Peoples of Russia. He did not take the title at this tournament because he refused the finals for the sake of a trip to the challenger in China. The tennis player discussed this scenario with the federation in advance.

The decision to skip the finals of the Spartakiad paid off. Simakin won the trophy in Zhangjiagang, and then defeated all his rivals in Phan Thiet, Vietnam. Simakin stayed in Phan Thiet for one more week, having once again completed it to the victorious end. The third title in a row was more difficult, because in the semifinals and finals we had to play three sets. Thanks to such successes, Simakin rose to the top 150 and got the opportunity to play the Masters qualification and immediately passed it. He defeated Frenchman Luca Pavlovic and local tennis player Te Rigele.

"It's unexpected and pleasant,— Simakin said in an interview with the More project. — My first Masters, and immediately breaking into the base is a big deal for me. Everyone who has supported and helped me for a long time deserves it.

Ilya will play his first match at the ATP main draw level with Camilo Hugo Carabella. The Argentine is in 74th place and on a streak of two defeats in a row. In Chengdu, he lost to the representative of the second hundred Federico Chin, and in Tokyo to the 85th racket of the world Rinki Hijikata. Why shouldn't Simakin, who is in great shape, extend his winning streak of 17 matches? If successful, Ilya will surpass the ranking of the titled Swiss Stan Wawrinka and approach the top 130.

Pavel Kotov is currently 33 positions behind Simakin in the Live rating. The 27-year-old Russian has won three European "challengers" this year, and reached the semifinals of the ATP-125 tournament in Shanghai as part of the Asian series. A week later, Pavel reached the final of the Challenger in Guangzhou, but lost it to another Russian, Marat Sharipov. The latter is currently in 220th place in the ranking, but this was not enough to play in the qualification of the thousandth. But Kotov passed two strong rivals in Shanghai. First, the American Martin Damm defeated Medvedev's recent abuser, and then the Australian representative Aleksandar Vukic.

In the first round, Kotov will face Tallon Grixpor. The 61st racket of the world from the Netherlands is on a series of three defeats in a row, so Kotov's pre-start positions are not so hopeless.

Fans have the right to expect a successful performance in Shanghai from Roman Safiullin. In Hangzhou, he reached the semifinals (losing to Medvedev), and in Beijing he beat fourth-seeded Flavio Kobolli (in the second round, Rublev stopped his movement on the grid). Nevertheless, in Shanghai, Roman had to compete in qualifying, where he coped with 177th ranked Alexis Galarno and 134th ranked Shintaro Mochizuki. In the first round, the Russian defeated Hijikata. The Russian won the first set in a tiebreak, and in the second set he made the decisive break with the score 4:3 with two cool submission techniques.

"I had easy matches in qualifying, not long ones,— Safiullin told the More project. — I didn't spend a lot of effort, but the problem is that I didn't rest after Hangzhou. I didn't have a single day off. Fatigue has accumulated. I am glad that on Thursday (October 8th) I will finally have a day off.

Without Riyadh

Andrey Rublev (23) and Karen Khachanov (26) got to the top of the grid along with the first seed Alexander Zverev. Rublev will play Ray Sakamoto in the second round, Khachanov will play Marin Chilich or Artur Feri. Daniil Medvedev ended up in the bottom quarter along with Carlos Alcaraz (2) and reigning champion Valentin Vachero (17). In the second round, the Russian will face Martin Landaluse or Jan-Lennard Struff.

It should be noted that the best tennis player in Russia is currently going through a difficult moment. Daniil did not receive an invitation to the Six Kings Slam exhibition tournament in Riyadh instead of the injured Yannick Sinner. Earlier, insiders reported that our athlete was considered the main contender for the vacancy, but in the end, the organizers preferred American Lerner Tien, who is significantly lower in the ranking than Medvedev and has never risen above the quarterfinals of a Grand Slam. Many people associate such a strange choice with the scandal in the semifinals of the tournament in Beijing, where a 30-year-old Russian earned a disqualification for unsportsmanlike behavior.

In theory, such hype would only boost the ratings of the Six Kings Slam 2026 if Medvedev appeared there. But this is the logic of show business, not a politically correct and aristocratic sport like tennis. The organizers of the tournament in Riyadh, apparently, considered that replacing Yannick with Daniel in the current situation would be regarded as support for unrestrained behavior on the court. As a result, the bar of the application dropped to the 17th position of the world ranking, which is occupied by Tien. Of course, the 20-year-old Chinese from the USA is a talented guy and has beaten Medvedev twice at the World Cup. But his appearance in the company of the top men's tennis players is a huge advance.

Canceling a potential trip to Saudi Arabia is sure to be Daniel's last argument in favor of competing at the parallel ATP 250 tournament in Kazakhstan, where our athlete must defend last year's title.