The Shanghai Masters 2023 draw for the men’s singles competition was released on Monday. Carlos Alcaraz will be the top seed again and is set to have a relatively much easier draw than second seed, Daniil Medvedev. However, Alcaraz could have to deal with his Rogers Cup 2022 and 2023 conqueror, Tommy Paul who is in the same half as the Spaniard.
Carlos Alcaraz has excited fans on his debut in China, making it to the semifinals in Beijing. He beat Casper Ruud in the quarterfinals on Monday. On the other hand, Daniil Medvedev will look for a second title in Shanghai and is set to be the World No.2’s biggest competitor again.
Alcaraz, Medvedev draws set to make Shanghai Masters most competitive in years
The Shanghai Masters 2023 will be the first to be played in years without either of Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal or Roger Federer. But it is likely that their absence might not be felt much since nearly all the top 10 ranked players currently are participating in the tournament, which is returning after 4 years. Carlos Alcaraz and Daniil Medvedev are battling at the top with Novak Djokovic, making this competition vital for both of them.
Coming to the draw, Carlos Alcaraz has been projected to take on Taylor Fritz in the quarterfinals. The other big names in his quarter are Grigor Dimitrov, Frances Tiafoe and Stefanos Tsitsipas. But if his half is looked at, it gets interesting. Should all those four names fail vis-a-vis Alcaraz, then the Spaniard could have to deal with USA’s Tommy Paul yet again.
It is no secret that Tommy Paul is one man who has got Carlos Alcaraz’s number. He has beaten him twice on the outdoor hard courts surface in the last 2 years, while the World No.2 beat him in a thriller in the Cincinnati Masters 2023. Their matches go right down the wire largely due to Paul’s ability to serve big and surprise the youngster with either his shots on the net or going too deep on the baseline almost immediately after a serve or his return is complete.
If Carlos Alcaraz and Tommy Paul clash, it will be their 5th ATP Tour meeting overall in men’s singles, with both tied at 2-2 so far. No other American player comes close to Paul when it comes to battling Alcaraz, making him arguably his biggest nemesis outside the top 10 of the rankings. Only Novak Djokovic and Daniil Medvedev in the active crop of top-ranked players on the Tour have had reasonable amount of success against Alcaraz, especially on hard courts.
Moving to Medvedev’s draw, in the same quarter, he has 2023 US Open semifinalist Ben Shelton, 2023 Rogers Cup champion Jannik Sinner, Alexander Zverev, Holger Rune and Felix Augur-Aliassime. If his half is considered, it gets trickier for the Russian as Alex de Minaur, Chris Eubanks or Casper Ruud could be his likely quarterfinal opponent. This has made fans believe that the organisers are biased towards Alcaraz, accusing even the ATP of perhaps wanting to ‘hand back’ the Spaniard the No.1 ranking.
The draw is out in Shanghai, with 96-player draw for the first time. 10-days event, Wednesday start.
Looks like a good draw for top seed Carlos Alcaraz.
Sinner, Zverev, Rune, Ruud, Shelton all in the bottom half with Medvedev. pic.twitter.com/9LwXAIvJdR
— José Morgado (@josemorgado) October 2, 2023
It is extremely likely that Jannik Sinner could be the first to halt Daniil Medvedev’s run in Shanghai. Sinner has a point to prove, losing in the US Open to Alexander Zverev unexpectedly despite being one of the pre-tournament favourites. The Italian will next take on Carlos Alcaraz in the semifinals of the Beijing Open.
Carlos Alcaraz aims for million-dollar payday in Shanghai
The winner of the Shanghai Masters will receive 1000 points and a handsome paycheck of $1,262,220. According to the ATP Tour, the Total Financial Commitment for the tournament is USD $9,702,520, while the total prize money overall is $8,800,000. Here is the breakdown for the same –
| Round | Prize money | Points |
| Champion | $1,262,220 | 1000 |
| Finalist | $662,360 | 600 |
| Semi-finalists | $352,635 | 360 |
| Quarter-finalists | $184,465 | 180 |
| Round of 16 | $96,955 | 90 |
| Round of 32 | $55,770 | 45 |
| Round of 64 | $30,885 | 25 |
| Round of 96 | $18,660 | 10 |
When it comes to the ATP Finals qualification race for Turin, only Novak Djokovic, Carlos Alcaraz and Daniil Medvedev have qualified for sure. Atleast two more spots could be booked by the end of the Beijing Open. Jannik Sinner and Andrey Rublev are the hot favorites to be 4th and 5th respectively since the cutoff is 4,895 points. At 3,525 points, Alexander Zverev could be the 6th player to make it and a win against Medvedev in the Beijing semi-final would make his life easier.
This year, the 7th and 8th spots is set to be a huge battle between more than 3-4 players. Most of them lost early in Beijing or have not participated in the tournament. If there are a string of dramatic upsets in the coming weeks, then there could be a chance that those spots would not be covered by Stefanos Tsitsipas and Holger Rune.
