4 shocking results of the day from Shanghai Masters & Wuhan Open ft. Frances Tiafoe, Katie Boulter
Frances Tiafoe's expletive-laden outburst after his third-round loss at the 2024 Shanghai Masters was arguably the most shocking incident from today's tennis action. Meanwhile, at the Wuhan Open, several stars, including Katie Boulter, also suffered surprising defeats on the third day of main draw tennis.
The 2024 Shanghai Masters and Wuhan Open are now in full flow, with the biggest players serving enthralling matches on October 8. 24-time Grand Slam Novak Djokovic, second seed Alexander Zverev, Taylor Fritz, and Ben Shelton emerged victorious in their third-round matches in Shanghai. Meanwhile, Mirra Andreeva and Marta Kostyuk were the most high-profile victors in Wuhan.
However, several stars, like Frances Tiafoe, suffered upsets during the day. Here, we take a look at the four most surprising outcomes from today’s matches at the Shanghai Masters and Wuhan Open.
#4 Liudmila Samsonova
Liudmila Samsonova was in search of good results during the Asian swing on the back of a fourth-round finish at the US Open 2024. However, the Russian has suffered three consecutive losses in as many tournaments in Asia. After failing to defend finalist points from last year at the China Open, Samsonova looked for some redemption but faced yet another opening-round exit in Wuhan.
The 25-year-old was seeded 11th at the Wuhan Open and began her campaign against Magda Linette on October 8. The Pole took advantage of Samsonova's struggles with serve as the Russian committed six doubles faults and won just 45% of points on her first serve. Samsonova was broken five times by Linette, who comfortably won the match 6-2, 6-2.
#3 Ugo Humbert
French No. 1 Ugo Humbert finally rediscovered his groove at the Japan Open as he finished as the runner-up at the ATP 500 tournament. He began his campaign at the Shanghai Masters as the 16th seed and registered a comfortable win against compatriot Arthur Cazaux. Humbert faced another Frenchman in the form of Gael Monfils in the third round.
Monfils took the opening set via a tiebreaker, only for Humbert to neutralize the advantage within the second set. In the third, the veteran Frenchman upped the ante as he broke Humbert twice to wrap up a 7-6 (7), 2-6, 6-1 victory.
#2 Katie Boulter
Katie Boulter's bid to string together impressive results outside the English grass courts is proving more difficult than expected as the British No. 1 endured another head-scratching loss against a lower-ranked opponent. Boulter, currently ranked World No. 34, faced No. 96 Lesia Tsurenko in the opening round at Wuhan Open.
Tsurenko, who has won only one tour-level match since the French Open, benefitted from her successful qualification campaign at the WTA 1000 tournament as much as she did from the error-ridden game of Boulter. The Brit failed to hold her serve even once in the first set and was broken again at 5-5 in the second set en route to a 6-3, 7-5 loss.
#1 Frances Tiafoe
Frances Tiafoe was expecting big things from himself after the highs of the North American hard court swing, during which he reached the final at the Cincinnati Open and semifinals at the US Open. However, that has not been the case so far. At the 2024 Shanghai Masters, 13th seed Tiafoe ousted local talent Zhou Yi before being shown the exit door in the third round by Roman Safiullin.
Tiafoe and Safiullin engaged in a close battle as they split the first two sets marginally. The third set also went down the wire with a tiebreaker required to determine the winner. Things turned in Safiullin's favour at 5-5 when a time violation led to the first serve being taken from Tiafoe.
The Russian earned a mini-break at the crucial juncture and won the match a point later, 5-7, 7-5, 7-6 (5). The time violation and defeat clearly irked Frances Tiafoe, as he lost his cool and verbally abused the chair umpire after shaking hands with Safiullin at the net.