World No. 277 Zhou stuns Musetti as Cobolli and Berrettini also fall

Few people outside China had heard of Yi Zhou before Friday. The 21-year-old wildcard, ranked 277th in the world, now has the biggest win of his career after beating 24th seed Lorenzo Musetti 7-6(7), 3-6, 7-6(1) at the Shanghai Masters, on a day when Italy lost three of its leading men in the space of a few hours.

Flavio Cobolli, the sixth seed, went down to Adrian Mannarino, and Matteo Berrettini was beaten by Brandon Nakashima. Italian outlet Ubitennis summed it up as Italy's "black Friday".

Zhou holds his nerve in two tiebreaks

Musetti was playing his first official match in more than a month after an injury layoff, and the rust showed at key moments. The former world No. 5 held two set points in the opening tiebreak but could not take either, and Zhou edged it 9-7.

The Italian responded well in the second set, taking advantage of a run of errors from Zhou to level at one set all. The decider was tight throughout, and Musetti let three break-point chances slip, according to Ubitennis. Once it went to a tiebreak, Zhou was the steadier player by far, racing through it 7-1 to close out a match that lasted 2 hours and 28 minutes.

His reward is a third-round meeting with Hubert Hurkacz, the 2023 Shanghai champion, who earned his first career win over Novak Djokovic earlier on Friday.

Cobolli's slump deepens

For Cobolli, the defeat is part of a worrying pattern. The world No. 7 lost 6-1, 4-6, 6-3 to Mannarino, who is ranked 83rd. The Frenchman dominated the first set, Cobolli fought back to take the second, but the left-hander regained control in the third.

According to Adnkronos, it is Cobolli's fourth consecutive defeat. With Jannik Sinner out for the rest of 2026 with a knee injury, Cobolli had been the highest-seeded Italian in the Shanghai draw.

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Berrettini edged out by Nakashima

Berrettini, now ranked 46th, had won his opening match on Wednesday but could not get past 16th seed Nakashima. The American won 7-6(4), 7-5 in two tight sets, with Berrettini unable to make an impression in the tiebreak or the closing games of the second set.

The Italian exits added to a chaotic day in Shanghai. Qualifier Rei Sakamoto beat 23rd seed Andrey Rublev 6-4, 6-4, Quentin Halys knocked out 27th seed Alexander Blockx 4-6, 7-6(9), 6-4, and Arthur Gea beat 30th seed Ugo Humbert 6-4, 3-6, 6-1. With Mannarino, Halys and Gea all through, it was as good a day for French tennis as it was a bad one for Italy.

Italy still have Matteo Arnaldi in the draw. He needed just 52 minutes to beat Bernard Tomic in the first round and next faces Taylor Fritz.