Medvedev advances at Shanghai in 1st match since disqualification. Mustached Alcaraz wins opener

SHANGHAI (AP) — Daniil Medvedev has won his first match since being disqualified at the China Open for hitting a spectator in the eye with a ball he hit into the stands.

Medvedev beat Jan-Lennard Struff 4-6, 6-4, 6-3 in a second-round match on Saturday at the Shanghai Masters, an ATP 1000 tennis event.

Medvedev, who now holds a 10-2 career edge over Struff, had been disqualified during his semifinal Monday against Novak Djokovic for hitting the spectator with a ball the Russian player had hit into the stands at Beijing.

Medvedev, who apologized after the incident, saying it was an accident, lost the $285,000 prize money he would have received for making the semifinals in Beijing.

It was the fifth-seeded Medvedev’s first match since the disqualification. He had a bye in the first round.

Medvedev advances at Shanghai in 1st match since disqualification. Mustached Alcaraz wins opener | iNFOnews.ca
Daniil Medvedev, of Russia, speaks to the media after being disqualified from the men’s single semi-final match against Novak Djokovic, of Serbia at the China Open tennis tournament in Beijing, Monday, Oct. 5, 2026. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)

No trouble for mustached Alcaraz

Second-seeded Carlos Alcaraz, who won last week’s Japan Open, had a 6-3, 6-3 win over Juan Manuel Cerundolo in a night match in Shanghai. It extended his winning streak to seven matches.

While Alcaraz had a beard and the start of a mustache in his Japan Open trophy photos, he only had the mustache in Saturday night’s match in Shanghai.

“It’s going to stay for (the) week. I always wanted to step on the court at least once with the mustache,” Alcaraz said after win. “So before Tokyo, it was, it was like, ‘Alright, if I win the tournament, we all have to do the mustache’.”

In other second-round matches Saturday, fourth-seeded Felix Auger-Aliassime beat Camilo Ugo Carabelli 4-6, 7-6 (1), 7-5.

Medvedev advances at Shanghai in 1st match since disqualification. Mustached Alcaraz wins opener | iNFOnews.ca
Spain’s Carlos Alcaraz poses with the trophy after winning the men’s singles final against Czechia’s Jiri Lehecka at the Japan Open tennis tournament in Tokyo, Tuesday, Oct. 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)

No. 1 Jannik Sinner withdrew from Shanghai this week when he announced he was taking the rest of 2026 off because of a right knee injury.

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