Top 5 stars Ben Shelton and Felix Auger-Aliassime continued their pre-tournament preparations with practice sessions under a closed roof inside Qi Zhong Stadium on Sunday.
Shelton, the top-ranked American, reached the quarter-finals of the Rolex Shanghai Masters on debut in 2023 after stunning Jannik Sinner in the fourth round. This year he’s looking to go deep again and boost his chances of qualifying for the Nitto ATP Finals for the first time.
Meanwhile, 48 players hoping to join the big names in the main draw learned their first-round qualifying opponents following the release of the qualifying draw.
Former World No. 21 Lorenzo Sonego headlines a quality field of players who on Monday begin a two-day quest to qualify for the main draw.
Sonego, 31, has won four ATP Tour titles and last year reached the Australian Open quarter-finals and Wimbledon fourth round. The Turin native will play Tunisia’s Aziz Dougaz, who enters qualifying with a protected ranking.
Former World No. 21 Lorenzo Sonego is the top seed in qualifying.
Second seed Roman Safiullin, who has been ranked as high as No. 36, begins his quest to qualify against Canadian Alexis Galarneau. A former Wimbledon quarter-finalist, Safiullin began the China swing strongly with a semi-final run in Hangzhou. He reached the fourth round in Shanghai last year after beating three-time US Open semi-finalist Frances Tiafoe.
Australian Cruz Hewitt, son of former World No. 1 Lleyton Hewitt, will make his qualifying debut against Hong Kong’s Coleman Wong.
Former NextGen ATP Finals semi-finalist Nishesh Basavareddy, who took a set from Novak Djokovic in the opening round of the 2025 Australian Open, will play Belgian Kimmer Coppejans in his second appearance in Shanghai. Last year the American lost a three-set qualifying first round to Monaco’s Valentin Vacherot, who went on a fairytale run to claim the ATP Masters 1000 title.
Qualifying play begins at 12 noon Monday and will continue on Tuesday. Players must win two matches to claim one of 12 qualifying places in the main draw, which commences Wednesday.
The main draw will be made on site at 10:30 a.m. Monday.
