Shanghai Surprises: Zverev, Rune, De Minaur, Musetti, FAA Lose Openers; Alcaraz, Medvedev Sat.

A bunch of big names and big names fell in their openers on Friday in Shanghai as five of the top seven seeds in action all lost.

After a strong start to his Asian swing, Alexander Zverev fell in straight sets to Roman Safiullin 6-3, 6-1.

Safiullin hit seven aces and lost just three points on first serve. Zverev won just 48% of first serves and only garnered one break point against the Russian.

No. 3 seed Holger Rune‘s troubles continue. The 20-year-old was blown out by Brandon Nakashima 6-0, 6-2. Rune has now lost seven of his last eight matches.

Fabian Marozsan stunned the in form No. 11 seed Alex De Minaur 6-3, 7-5. Marton Fucsovics of Hungary upset the 14th-seeded Felix Auger-Aliassime 7-6(7-3), 4-6, 6-3 and qualifier Yu Hsiou Hsu ousted 17th-seeded Lorenzo Musetti 6-3, 6-4.

No. 8 seed Casper Ruud avoided peril getting over on Yoshihito Nishioka of Japan 7-5, 6-0. Ruud smacked nine aces and lost only five points on first serve against the lefty.

Ruud enjoyed six love holds in the match and won the last eight games.

Other matches saw No. 20 seed Francisco Cerundolo topple Mackenzie McDonald 7-6(7-4), 7-6(7-5). Serbia’s Dusan Lajovic got a second set retirement from No. 23 seed Tallon Griekspoor. No. 29 seed Christopher Eubanks sent out Yannick Hanfmann 4-6, 6-3, 6-2. 16th-seeded Hubert Hurkacz got the better of Thanasi Kokkinakis in straights 7-6(7-5), 6-4. Zhang Zhizhen upended the 28th-seeded Tomas Martin Etcheverry 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 and Americans Ben Shelton and Sebastian Korda were also winners.

The Saturday ticket includes second round play highlighted by No. 1 Carlos Alcaraz facing off against Gregoire Barrere in a first-time tour-level meeting.

No. 5 Andrey Rublev meets Quentin Halys, No. 6 Jannik Sinner will challenge Marcos Giron, No. 7 Taylor Fritz draws Yosuke Watanuki, No. 13 Karen Khachanov will meet Beibit Zhukayev, No. 27 Jiri Lehecka gets Diego Schwartzman, No. 30 Daniel Evans will meet Mikhail Kukushkin plus No. 31 Adrian Mannarino locks up with Chun-Hsin Tseng.

Also, No. 2 Daniil Medvedev locks up with Cristian Garin. Medvedev has won two of three tour-level meetings when facing Garin.

No. 4 Stefanos Tsitsipas meets Rinky Hijikata, No. 10 Frances Tiafoe locks up with Lorenzo Sonego and No. 12 Tommy Paul collides with Sebastian Ofner.

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