Sinner has the toughest path to the semis of the big names
There are no cakewalks at a Masters 1000 like this, but neither is there one road that looks especially rocky.
Sinner’s path is probably the most difficult for the simple fact that Medvedev is his potential quarterfinal opponent. Otherwise, he’ll be a solid favorite against any of the other seeds in his quarter—Tomas Etcheverry, Arthur Fils, Ben Shelton, and Stefanos Tsitsipas among them.
Alcaraz has an interesting potential opener against local favorite, and recent Chengdu champion, Jerry Shang. After that, he might face Nicolas Jarry, Ugo Humbert, and either Casper Ruud or Tommy Paul in the quarters.
Djokovic could also play a young Chinese talent, Bu Yunchaokete, in the first round. From there his road might look like this: Flavio Cobolli, Frances Tiafoe, and a quarterfinal against last year’s runner-up, Rublev. Djokovic hasn’t been to Shanghai since pre-pandemic 2019, but he’s a four-time champion there and has never lost before the quarters.
Zverev, the No. 2 seed, may be on a collision course with an opponent he may be sick of seeing across the net: Taylor Fritz. Fritz beat the German this year at Wimbledon, the US Open, and Laver Cup. Other seeds in this section include Holger Rune, Lorenzo Musetti, and Brandon Nakashima.
