Shanghai draw: Zverev top seed, Djokovic in his half, Alcaraz opposite

Jannik Sinner's absence has reshaped the last big swing of the Asian season. The draw for the Rolex Shanghai Masters was made on Monday in Shanghai. With the world No. 1 sidelined by his knee problem, Alexander Zverev is the top seed. The German landed in the same half as Novak Djokovic, while second seed Carlos Alcaraz was placed in the bottom half.

The penultimate Masters 1000 event of the season runs from 7 to 18 October at the Qizhong Forest Sports City Arena. It has a 96-player singles draw, so all 32 seeds get a first-round bye. The winner takes 1,000 ranking points, and with Sinner missing that matters a great deal for Zverev, who is still chasing the top of the rankings.

A Beijing rematch on the horizon

The headline projection comes straight out of last week. If the seeds hold, Zverev and Djokovic would meet in the semi-finals. That would be a repeat of their quarter-final at the China Open, where Djokovic beat the German on his way to a perfect 32-0 record in Beijing.

Zverev opens against Chinese wild card Wu Yibing or a qualifier. His quarter is packed, though. Reports on the draw put Alexander Bublik, Matteo Berrettini, Andrey Rublev, Brandon Nakashima and Flavio Cobolli in his section. So is Alex de Minaur, who plays Djokovic in the Beijing final on Tuesday. Tennis Watcher described a possible quarter-final against Cobolli or De Minaur as the main hurdle before a semi-final.

Djokovic faces a tough route

Djokovic's road looks harder still. The Serb opens against Hubert Hurkacz or Australia's James Duckworth. Hurkacz retired in his Beijing semi-final against De Minaur, so his fitness will be watched closely. Lorenzo Musetti is a possible third-round opponent, Frances Tiafoe a projected fourth-round rival and Ben Shelton, another top seed, the likely quarter-final opponent. Yahoo Sports called it a "brutal draw" for the 24-time Grand Slam champion, who will arrive straight from Tuesday's final against De Minaur.

Alcaraz in the softer half

For Alcaraz, the draw looks kinder. The Spaniard, who plays Jiří Lehečka in the Tokyo final on Tuesday as he tries to defend his Japan Open title, opens against Juan Manuel Cerúndolo or a qualifier. Peru's Ignacio Buse is his projected first seeded opponent in the third round. After that, he could meet defending champion Valentin Vacherot or Tommy Paul in the last 16. Daniil Medvedev or Taylor Fritz are the projected quarter-final opponents.

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Medvedev's presence in that section adds extra interest. The Russian was defaulted in his Beijing semi-final against Djokovic after a ball he struck hit a spectator. He lost his prize money and ranking points from the event but has since apologised, calling the incident a "100% accident".

Further down the bottom half are Félix Auger-Aliassime, Arthur Fils and Spain's Rafael Jódar, one of whom is the projected semi-final opponent for Alcaraz. Tennis Watcher called Alcaraz's path "the softest it could realistically have been, with Sinner absent and Zverev and Djokovic busy battering each other on the opposite side."

On paper, the draw points to a Zverev–Alcaraz final on 18 October. First, though, Djokovic and Alcaraz both have titles to play for in Beijing and Tokyo, and main-draw play in Shanghai starts on Wednesday.