Top seed Carlos Alcaraz will take the court in Shanghai against France’s Gregoire Barrere. American J.J. Wolf will also be in second round action against Cameron Norrie.
(1) Carlos Alcaraz vs. Gregoire Barrere
Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz will take the court for the first time since losing in the semifinals in Beijing to eventual champion Jannik Sinner. Though he is nearly always in the business end of each tournament he enters, the Spaniard has not won a tournament since his victory on the grass courts of Wimbledon. He will be looking to close out the season on a high note in the Asian swing.
Alcaraz’s second round opponent is the world No. 73 Gregoire Barrere. The Frenchman splits his time between the Challenger circuit and the main tour. His last event was the 250 tournament in Astana, where he lost in the first round. Barrere is an anemic 18-21 on season, though he had a solid semifinal showing in Eastbourne earlier this summer.
This should be routine for the Spaniard. While Alcaraz has had a long season and fatigue may be a factor, it’s hard to imagine a player of Alcaraz’s caliber falling to the likes of Barrere.
Cheryl pick – Alcaraz in 2
How many games will Barrere win?
(15) Cameron Norrie vs. J.J. Wolf
Britain’s Cameron Norrie has had a rough second half of the ATP season. The No. 15 seed won no matches during the lead-up to the U.S. Open. He did manage to win a pair of matches in New York, but he’s only managed a single match win in the tournaments since – he earned his spot in the second round this week thanks to his No. 15 seeding and the resulting opening round bye.
American J.J. Wolf has had a similarly rough time of it during the second half of the tennis season. The world No. 51 was even forced to qualify in Beijing. He managed to get to the main draw, but he crashed out in a lopsided loss to Matteo Arnaldi, the up-and-coming Italian.
This will be the first-ever match between Wolf and Norrie. While neither player is enjoying particularly good form at the moment, at least Wolf has a match in Shanghai this week (he defeated Pedro Cachin in 3 sets). Ranking suggests that Norrie has the edge, but this is pretty close to a toss-up.
Cheryl pick – Norrie in 3
WWW: Norrie vs. Wolf?
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