SHANGHAI: Four American players pulled off upsets at the Shanghai Masters on Monday. A fifth wasn’t so lucky.

Sam Querrey, Mackenzie McDonald, Bradley Klahn and Taylor Fritz all posted wins in the first round of the tournament, while Frances Tiafoe lost his match.

Perhaps the most surprising win came from the 81st-ranked McDonald, who defeated 14th-seeded Milos Raonic 6-3, 5-7, 6-3.

It was the second meeting between the two. Raonic won their fourth-round encounter at Wimbledon in four sets in July.

Klahn, also a qualifier and making his first appearance in Shanghai, defeated Nick Kyrgios 4-6, 6-4, 6-3. The talented but erratic Kyrgios has played in Shanghai four times with his best showing being two second-round finishes.

Querrey upset ninth-seeded Diego Schwartzman 6-3, 6-4, while Fritz beat Robin Haase 6-3, 7-6 (7-3). The pair will face each other in the next round.

Tiafoe, however, lost to Matthew Ebden 3-6, 6-4, 6-3.

Another high-profile name to go out at the first hurdle was three-time Grand Slam winner Stan Wawrinka.

The 33-year-old Swiss star, who has had injury problems, was defeated by 13th seed Borna Coric.

The Croatian, 21, won 4-6, 6-4, 6-3 and will play Klahn in the next round.

Greek youngster Stefanos Tsitsipas, whose run to the quarter-finals in Tokyo last week was enough to book a place at the ATP Finals in November, opened his Shanghai campaign with a 7-6 (7-4), 4-6, 6-4 win over Gael Monfils.

The 20-year-old broke the Frenchman’s serve twice in the decider to set up a second round meeting with Russian Karen Khachanov.

Published in Dawn, October 9th, 2018