Watanuki defeats home hope Shang to reach second round at Shanghai
Yosuke Watanuki edged out Juncheng Shang 7-6 (7), 4-6, 6-4 on Thursday. He’ll play No 7 seed Taylor Fritz in the next round
Yosuke Watanuki from Japan || BPI / Panoramic
Japanese Yosuke Watanuki moved into the second round of the Shanghai Masters by edging out Chinese wildcard Juncheng Shang 7-6 (7), 4-6, 6-4 at the Qi Zhong Stadium on Thursday.
25-year-old Watanuki, making his Shanghai debut, improves to 8-8 on the season. His victory completed the first round in Shanghai, with second-round action set to commence on Saturday in Shanghai.
Watanuki, ranked No 79, will play No 7 seed Taylor Fritz next.
Shanghai Masters, other first-round results (Qi Zhong Stadium, hard, USD 8.800.000, most recent results first):
- Sebastian Ofner beat Juan Pablo Varillas: 7-6 (3), 7-6 (6)
- J.J. Wolf beat Pedro Cachin: 3-6, 6-3, 6-4
- Botic van de Zandschulp beat Christopher O’Connell: 6-2, 6-7 (2), 6-4
- Diego Schwartzman (WC) beat Luca Van Assche: 5-7, 6-3, 6-2
- Quentin Halys beat Aslan Karatsev: 7-6 (4), 3-6, 6-2
- Matteo Arnaldi beat Alexei Popyrin: 4-6, 6-3, 6-4
- Terence Atmane (Q) beat Jordan Thompson: 6-3, 3-6, 6-1
- Beibit Zhukayev (Q) beat Stefano Napolitano (Q): 7-5, 7-5
- Rinky Hijikata (Q) beat Laslo Djere: 7-6 (4), 7-5
- Arthur Fils beat Pavel Kotov: 6-1, 6-4
- Aleksandar Vukic beat Roberto Carballes Baena: 6-4, 7-6 (7)
- Chun-Hsin Tseng beat Alexander Shevchenko: 3-6, 6-3, 6-2
- Lorenzo Sonego beat Philip Sekulic (Q): 6-3, 6-2
- Mikhail Kukushkin (Q) beat Alexandre Muller: 6-7 (6), 6-3, 6-2
- Gregoire Barrere beat Nuno Borges: 6-2, 6-2
- Roman Safiullin beat Andy Murray: 6-3, 6-2
- Cristian Garin beat Aleksandar Kovacevic (Q): 6-4, 7-6 (10)
- Yu Hsiou Hsu (Q) beat Max Purcell: 7-6 (5), 4-6, 6-4
- Marcos Giron beat Daniel Elahi Galan: 6-4, 6-2
- Zhizhen Zhang beat Richard Gasquet: 6-1, 6-2
- Marton Fucsovics beat Denis Yevseyev (Q): 6-4, 6-2
- Mackenzie McDonald beat Corentin Moutet: 6-2, 6-3
- Yannick Hanfmann beat James Duckworth (Q): 6-4, 6-7 (10), 6-3
- Fabian Marozsan beat Arthur Rinderknech: 7-6 (6), 6-2
- Jaume Munar beat Rigele Te (WC): 6-2, 6-4
- Dane Sweeny (Q) beat Taro Daniel: 6-2, 6-3
- Thanasi Kokkinakis beat Fabio Fognini (WC): 6-2, 6-4
- Yunchaokete Bu (WC) beat Miomir Kecmanovic: 6-7 (6), 6-2, 2-1 ret.
- Brandon Nakashima beat Bernabe Zapata Miralles: 6-1, 7-6 (3)
- Dusan Lajovic beat Stan Wawrinka: 6-4, 7-6 (7)
- Yoshihito Nishioka beat Daniel Altmaier: 6-4, 3-6, 7-6 (2)