Alcaraz earns 10th straight win, Mensik rocks Rublev

Three days after beating Jannik Sinner in a three-set epic to claim the Beijing title, Carlos Alcaraz picked up where he left off Saturday at the Rolex Shanghai Masters. The Spaniard earned his 10th consecutive win with a 6-2, 6-2 result against Chinese #NextGenATP star Shang Juncheng.

"I'm not used to playing against players younger than me," said the 21-year-old Alcaraz, two years Shang's elder. "He has been playing good tennis lately, lifting his first ATP [title in Chengdu], so I'm pretty sure he's going to climb the rankings. I'm just happy to to be able to win these kinds of matches.

"At the net he told me that it's a pleasure share the court with you. So these kinds of things that I hear from [younger players], it's great."

Always eager to put on a show, Alcaraz drew gasps from the Shanghai crowd on the third point of the match when he followed a daring net approach with great anticipation and soft hands to bring up 0-40 in the opening game. The Spaniard won the first nine points on the stadium court and never looked back, winning four of seven break points and all seven of his net points, according to Infosys ATP Stats.

Welcome to the @carlosalcaraz show ?@SH_RolexMasters | #RolexShanghaiMasters pic.twitter.com/PZtEpXoPPX

The moment of the match came early in set two, when a backtracking Alcaraz pulled off a backward flick to rescue a point. Alcaraz escaped to win that lengthy exchange, then wriggled out of trouble on the scoreboard by saving his lone break point to lead 3-1. As he closed in on the victory, a booming return drew a laugh from the overmatched Shang, who was bidding to become the first Chinese man to beat a Top 3 player in the PIF ATP Rankings.

Alcaraz will meet another Chinese star in the Shanghai third round, when he opens his Lexus ATP Head2Head series with Wu Yibing. The third seed has not lost since his shock second-round defeat to Botic van de Zandschulp at the US Open. Having played just three matches on the North American hard-court swing across Cincinnati and New York, the Spaniard said he is feeling fresh for the home stretch of the ATP Tour season.

#NextGen ATP Czech Jakub Mensik improved to 2-0 in his Lexus ATP Head2Head series with Andrey Rublev when he upset the sixth seed 6-7(7), 6-4, 6-3.

Repeating his victory over Rublev in Doha earlier this year, Mensik was strong on return, winning 64 per cent of second-serve return points and earning 19 break points, converting seven.

Mensik is fourth in the PIF ATP Live Race to Jeddah and likely to make his debut at the Next Gen ATP Finals presented by PIF in Saudi Arabia from 18-22 December.

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