An intriguing Shanghai first-rounder on Tuesday pits 2018 runner-up Borna Coric against an in-form Andrey Rublev. Meanwhile, Alexander Bublik qualified for the main draw and will try to maintain his fine form at the expense of Felix Auger-Aliassime.
Andrey Rublev vs. (12) Borna Coric
Coric and Rublev will be going head-to-head for the third time in their careers when they battle in round one of the Rolex Shanghai Masters on Tuesday afternoon. Rublev has won both of their previous encounters in straight sets; at the 2017 NextGen ATP Finals and a few months later to begin the following season in Doha. The 33rd-ranked Russian is wrapping up this year in impressive form, with quarterfinal results in Cincinnati and Winston-Salem, a fourth-round showing at the U.S. Open, and a quarterfinal finish in St. Petersburg.
Although he is ranked 18 places higher, Coric has been struggling a bit–in part due to injury–and he will tumble down the rankings without a strong performance in Shanghai because he was runner-up to Novak Djokovic in 2018. The 22-year-old Croat reached the St. Petersburg title match, but he has failed to win multiple matches in six of his last seven tournaments. This is a good opportunity for Rublev to pull off what would only be an upset on paper.
Pick: Rublev in 3
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Felix Auger-Aliassime vs. (Q) Alexander Bublik
This will be go down as a breakthrough season for Auger-Aliassime, who has earned 32 of his 38 career ATP-level match victories in 2019. That being said, the 19-year-old Canadian appears to have hit the wall in the latter stages of a long season. Auger-Aliassime is 1-5 in his last six matches, although he at least managed to advance one round in Beijing (beat Albert Ramos-Vinolas) before getting blown out by Alexander Zverev 6-3, 6-1.
Up first for the world No. 19 on Tuesday is a confident Bublik, who has been going in the other direction of late. The 54th-ranked Kazakh finished runner-up in both Chengdu and Newport to go along with a third-round performance at the U.S. Open. He already has two matches under his belt in Shanghai, having defeated Goncalo Oliveira and Yoshihito Nishioka in straight sets. This match will come down to whichever player has a better serving day, and Bublik has enjoyed many more of those in recent weeks.
Pick: Bublik in 3
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Rublev in three, Bublik in two