ATP Shanghai Masters 2018: Top 5 upsets of the tournament
Upsets of top seeds are nothing new in the Shanghai Masters. The first title winner, Nikolay Davydenko beat both Djokovic and Nadal to become the champion. Federer was beaten by Monfils in the 2013 edition of the tournament. This year wasn't any different with a slew of upsets occurring throughout the week. Five out of the 6 qualifiers reached the Round of 32, about which we'll have a look in a separate article.
Apart from the upsets, not all wins were easy for the top seeds which provides an account of the competitive nature of the tournament. That made the 2018 Shanghai Masters a bit more exciting. With at least 1 close match per day, this might be one of the most entertaining tournaments of the year.
Let's give the "lesser" players the respect they deserve by looking at the Top 5 upsets at Shanghai in 2018:
#5 Peter Gojowczyk vs Jack Sock
Peter Gojowczyk is not a well-known name in the tennis circuit. When thinking about Germany Tennis it's Kohlschreiber, the country's No.1 player who generally comes to mind. But, even the recently retired Florian Mayer and Struff who's ranked just 2 places above Gojowczyk are known better. Facing 12th seed Jack Sock in the first round he showed his abilities, standing toe to toe with the powerful American.
The first set started tightly with both players holding serve till the 7th game. Gojowczyk drew first blood, breaking Sock rather easily. He maintained the lead and took the set with his 3rd set point. The 2nd set too had him in the lead but he was broken and lost it in the tie-break.
The German didn't let that regret bother him though, as he went 3-0 up serving 1st in Set 3. He had to save 2 break points in Game 5 and one in Game 7, but he calmly got out of pressure. In his 4th match point, Peter Gojowczyk beat Jack Sock for the 2nd time in his career.