Shanghai Masters: Altmaier stuns Rune as Chinese wildcards Wu Yibing and Zhou Yi advance

Holger Rune's comeback from a ruptured Achilles hit a bump at the Rolex Shanghai Masters. Germany's Daniel Altmaier recovered from losing the opening set 6-1 and won 1-6, 7-6(5), 6-4 in a first-round match that lasted two hours and 14 minutes. Two Chinese wildcards gave the home crowd plenty to cheer on the same day. The opening two days of the 96-player draw finished on Thursday 8 October, and the 32 seeds, who all had first-round byes, start their campaigns on Friday 9 October.

Rune's return stalls

Rune is a former world No. 4. He ruptured his Achilles last October and returned to the tour only last month after surgery and a long rehabilitation, so Shanghai was just his third tour-level event since then. He won two Davis Cup rubbers for Denmark against Bulgaria, one of them against Grigor Dimitrov, before losing his opening match in Tokyo to Kyrian Jacquet.

Against Altmaier, the Dane dominated the first set. The world No. 67 stayed with him through the second and took it in a tie-break. Rune dropped serve for the first time at 4-4 in the decider, and Altmaier served the match out at 5-4, setting up match point with a backhand pass. Altmaier has had a tough 2026, going into the tournament with a 16-26 record. He said there were moments "where I really had to fight."

Home wins for Wu and Zhou

Wu Yibing, an Asian Games silver medallist, beat lucky loser Michael Zheng 6-3, 7-6(6). His reward is a second-round meeting with top seed Alexander Zverev. Zhou Yi, ranked No. 277, beat qualifier Mattia Bellucci 6-4, 3-6, 7-6(4) to set up a match against 24th seed Lorenzo Musetti.

It was a less happy opening day for Zhang Zhizhen. The Chinese wildcard took the first set 6-1 against Tomas Machac but lost 1-6, 7-6(3), 6-2. Hong Kong qualifier Coleman Wong also went out, 6-4, 7-6(5), to France's Quentin Halys.

Other first-round winners included Matteo Berrettini, Arthur Fery, who beat Marin Cilic 7-6(2), 6-1, and Yannick Hanfmann, who won three tie-breaks against Kamil Majchrzak.

Thursday sets up Djokovic and Alcaraz openers

The Thursday results fixed several seeds' opponents. Hubert Hurkacz beat James Duckworth 6-3, 7-6(4) and now meets 10th seed Novak Djokovic. Stefanos Tsitsipas beat qualifier Kimmer Coppejans 6-3, 7-5. Juan Manuel Cerundolo beat qualifier Nicolas Mejia 6-4, 6-4 and is in line to play second seed Carlos Alcaraz. Sebastian Baez came from a set down to beat Marcos Giron and will face defending champion Valentin Vacherot.

Friday order of play (Malaysia time)

Shanghai and Malaysia share the same time zone. Stadium Court play starts at 12pm with third seed Ben Shelton against Altmaier, followed by Zverev against Wu. The night session, not before 6pm, features Djokovic against Hurkacz and then Musetti against Zhou. Flavio Cobolli, Frances Tiafoe, Alex de Minaur, Alexander Bublik and Jakub Mensik are also scheduled to start their campaigns. Friday's matches were still to be played when this article was published.

Jannik Sinner is missing from this year's event. He withdrew with a right knee injury and has not played since winning Wimbledon in July. The singles final is on Sunday 18 October.

Key takeaways

• Altmaier beat Holger Rune 1-6, 7-6(5), 6-4 in the first round in Shanghai.
• Chinese wildcards Wu Yibing and Zhou Yi both won, while Zhang Zhizhen lost to Tomas Machac.
• Hurkacz beat Duckworth and now faces Djokovic in a heavyweight second-round match.
• All 32 seeds enter on Friday 9 October, and Jannik Sinner is out with a knee injury.

FAQ

Who won between Holger Rune and Daniel Altmaier in Shanghai? Daniel Altmaier won 1-6, 7-6(5), 6-4 after two hours and 14 minutes.

When does Novak Djokovic play at the 2026 Shanghai Masters? Djokovic plays Hubert Hurkacz in the night session on Friday 9 October, not before 6pm Malaysia time.

When is the 2026 Shanghai Masters final? The singles final is on Sunday 18 October 2026.

Sources: ATP Tour, Rolex Shanghai Masters, Tennisnerd