World No. 1 Carlos Alcaraz has made his way to the Shanghai Masters with little sleep, just a day after winning the China Open. He put up a brilliant performance against Jannik Sinner in the finals, 6-7(6), 6-4, 7-6(3).
The Spaniard will be making his second appearance at the Masters 1000 event in Shanghai. He reached the fourth round in 2023, where he lost to Grigor Dimitrov in a thrilling three-set bout, 5-7, 6-2, 6-4.
Alcaraz was spotted arriving at Qizhong Forest Sports City Arena less than 24 hours after lifting the title in Beijing. He halted for a quick chat with the tournament executives, who questioned his sleep routine amid the hectic schedule.
Here is the interaction between them:
“How much sleep did you get?" the executive asked.
“Not too much, not what I wanted," Carlos Alcaraz replied.
The 21-year-old captured his fourth title of the season in the China Open this week. He successfully defended his crown in Indian Wells and the Wimbledon Championships earlier and also turned heads with a maiden title triumph in the French Open. He outclassed Alexander Zverev to lift the trophy in Paris, 6-3, 2-6, 5-7, 6-1, 6-2.
Alcaraz has a promising record at Masters 1000 events in his career. He's captured the Madrid Open and the BNP Paribas Open twice so far and also claimed the honors in the Miami Open in 2022. He was close to adding another feather to his cap in the 2023 Cincinnati Open, but couldn't make his mark against Novak Djokovic in the finals.
Carlos Alcaraz will take on Shang Juncheng in R2 of the Shanghai Masters
World No. 3 Carlos Alcaraz will lock horns with World No. 55 Shang Juncheng in the second round of the Shanghai Masters. He leads the head-to-head against the Chinese 1-0 and defeated him recently in the 2024 Australian Open.
While Alcaraz amassed a near-perfect run in Beijing, Juncheng registered a maiden title triumph in Chengdu last month. The Chinese talent started his campaign in Shanghai with a confident win against Coleman Wong in the first round, 6-4, 6-4.
The previous encounter between Alcaraz and Juncheng was a no-show as Juncheng was forced to withdraw pre-match due to injury. It will be interesting to see how the youngster shapes up against Alcaraz this time around.
The winner of this match will take on either Wu Yibing or Nicolas Jarry in the third round.