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Carlos Alcaraz made a triumphant return to action following his Australian Open triumph as he beat Arthur Rinderknech 6-4, 7-6 (7/5) in the first round in Doha on Tuesday. Alcaraz, who became the youngest man to complete a career Grand Slam with his victory in Melbourne, saw off the 30th-ranked Rinderknech in two closely contested sets. “It was really difficult,” Alcaraz said after his one hour, 47-minute win. “Arthur is a really dangerous player. Nobody wants to play against him in the first round... I’m happy with the level. I’m happy that I got through difficult moments in the match. I’m happy that I stayed calm [and] positive, and played great tennis.” The world number one will face another Frenchman in round two, 60th-ranked Valentin Royer. Alcaraz took the first set after breaking in the fifth game but faced dogged resistance from Rinderknech, who brought up his first break points of the match with the top seed serving to force a tie-break in the second set. The Spaniard saved both and then closed out victory in the tie-break, ripping a forehand down the line on match point. This week, Alcaraz is aiming to improve on last year’s debut result in Doha, where he fell to Jiri Lehecka in the quarter-finals. The No. 1 player in the PIF ATP Rankings will next meet Frenchman Valentin Royer. Alcaraz can only meet second seed Sinner — who surged past Tomas Machac on Monday — in the championship match, which would be the 17th chapter of their thrilling rivalry. Stefanos Tsitsipas ignited his Doha campaign with a 6-4, 6-4 win over Tunisian wild card Moez Echargui, booking a popcorn second-round clash with 2023 winner and longtime rival Daniil Medvedev. Tsitsipas trails 4-10 in the pair’s Lexus ATP Head2Head series, though they have not met since Shanghai in 2024. Jiri Lehecka, Zizou Bergs, Fabian Marozsan and Zhang Zhizhen also all advanced on Tuesday. Lehecka eased past Jenson Brooksby 6-3, 6-3, Bergs overcame Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard 6-3, 6-7(5), 6-4, Marozsan dispatched Ugo Humbert 6-3, 6-1 and Zhang downed Roberto Carballes Baena 6-4, 6-4. Alcaraz's chief rival Jannik Sinner is on the other side of the draw. No player other than Alcaraz or Sinner has won a tour-level title at an event featuring both of them since Andrey Rublev lifted the trophy in Madrid in May 2024. 

World number 204 Valentin Vacherot said he was in shock Sunday after beating his cousin Arthur Rinderknech 4-6, 6-3, 6-3 to win the Shanghai Masters, becoming the lowest-ranked player to win an ATP 1000 tournament. The unlikely all-family final between the 54th-ranked Frenchman Rinderknech and Vacherot, from Monaco, was described by the latter’s coach and half-brother Benjamin Balleret as a “fairytale”. It was just the third ATP Masters 1000 final in history to feature two unseeded players. “I don’t even understand why I’m sitting here right now,” the 26-year-old Vacherot said at the winner’s press conference. “It’s crazy. I think I’m going to start realising in the next few days, but right now, I just want to enjoy the moment.” Vacherot landed in Shanghai on a “little bit of a gamble”. He was on the alternate list for the tournament - meaning he wasn’t even certain to take part - and found out just over a day before the qualifying rounds that he would play. The performance that followed will propel the Monegasque from 204 to 40 in the rankings, according to the ATP website. “The challenges were just everywhere,” he said, and his current situation was “surreal”. On their way to the final, Rinderknech took out world number three Alexander Zverev and former US Open champion Daniil Medvedev. Vacherot ended 24-time Grand Slam champion Novak Djokovic’s chances of a fifth Shanghai title in the semi-finals as well as defeating world number 11 Holger Rune. Vacherot admitted having to face his cousin in the final was “not easy... to deal with”. Coach Balleret said that in the second half of the match “the magic” happened. “(I’ve seen him before) in this state of mind, of physical beast,” he said of Vacherot. “But to do it on the centre court of Shanghai in the final against his cousin, it’s another thing.” Rinderknech said after his semi-final that there would be “two winners” on Sunday whatever happened. The two sat side-by-side, Rinderknech’s arm around Vacherot’s shoulder, as they waited for the trophy ceremony to begin - and were in tears during it.

World number three Alexander Zverev said he was playing “terrible tennis” after he was knocked out of the Shanghai Masters by France’s Arthur Rinderknech 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 on Monday.His exit leaves Novak Djokovic as the tournament’s top-ranked player, increasing the 38-year-old Serb’s chances of winning a record-extending fifth title in the Chinese financial hub.In stifling conditions, the 54th-ranked Rinderknech came back from a set down to stun an increasingly rattled Zverev into submission. It is the second time the Frenchman has beaten him, after bundling him out of Wimbledon earlier this year.A despondent Zverev told reporters the match had been “nothing unusual for me, unfortunately, these days”.“Just no confidence, no belief in the shots... My year has been terrible, I’m just playing terrible tennis all round,” he said, visibly emotional.The German had injured his big toe towards the end of his last match in Shanghai but on Monday showed no sign of discomfort as he broke Rinderknech in the third game with a forehand.He nearly went ahead early in the second set, but Rinderknech recovered his composure and broke in the fourth game.“I’m not very sure (how I managed to turn the game around),” he said.“I fought like hell, tried everything. (Zverev) is such a good player... I knew it was going to be a battle.“Starting in the second set... I was able to be offensive at the right moment, in a smarter way,” he said.Keeping up the momentum, in the third set the 30-year-old broke in the third game.Zverev had to pause to change his shoes because sweat was pouring out of them, as spectators wafted fans and wore cool packs on their foreheads to counter the suffocating humidity. But switching footwear was not enough to save the German, and a double fault in the seventh game led to Rinderknech breaking again.Holding with an ace to win, the Frenchman lolled his body in delighted disbelief, then danced around the court in glee.Top seeds vanquished Zverev’s loss means world number five Djokovic now leads ranking-wise as the tournament heads into the last 16, with the 24-time Grand Slam winner facing Spain’s Jaume Munar Tuesday.On Sunday the competition lost both defending champion Jannik Sinner, who was forced to retire with extreme leg cramps, and fourth-ranked Taylor Fritz.World number one Carlos Alcaraz withdrew at the last minute to rest.Alex de Minaur is the next highest seed after Djokovic through to the fourth round, comfortably getting past Poland’s Kamil Majchrzak 6-1, 7-5.The Australian will next meet Portugal’s Nuno Borges, who put an end to the hopes of home favourite Shang Juncheng 7-6 (7/5), 4-6, 6-3.MEDVEDEV ADVANCESDaniil Medvedev, the 2019 Shanghai champion, is through too, after beating Spain’s Alejandro Davidovich Fokina 6-3, 7-6 (7/5).“I haven’t had a title since two years, so (I’m) not a favourite yet, but I will take it match by match, and I’m happy with the way I play so far,” he told AFP.The Russian broke early to take the first set, before edging a sweat-soaked tiebreak in the second.Medvedev said he relished the conditions.“Whenever it’s above 28 and humid, I suffer and many players don’t. Here everyone suffers,” he grinned.He will once again take on US teenager Learner Tien, who defeated him last week in the China Open semi-final.The 19-year-old beat Britain’s Cameron Norrie 7-6 (7/4), 6-3 to make the last 16 on Monday.