(Shanghai) The Dane Holger Rune, world No.5, was eliminated sharply on Friday in the second round of the Shanghai Masters 1000 by the American Brandon Nakashima, where the Norwegian Casper Ruud qualified easily by dominating the Japanese Yoshihito Nishioka 7-5, 6-0.
The world top 20 are having a very difficult day since the Australian Alex de Minaur (11th), the Canadian Félix Auger-Aliassime (15th) and the Italian Lorenzo Musetti (18th) were all three also taken out, respectively by the Hungarian Fabian Marozsan and Marton Fucsovics, and the Taiwanese Hsu Yu Hsiou.
Seeded No.3 in China, Rune was swept away in two sets 6-0, 6-2 by Nakashima, who is only 122nd in the ATP rankings.
“(Rune) is a player who has been at the top of his game for a long time so I know that against him it is difficult every time,” said Nakashima after the match, who nevertheless made short work of his opponent in just over an hour.
This is a hard blow for the Dane, quarter-finalist at Roland Garros and Wimbledon this year, but who was eliminated at the start of the United States Open at the end of August.
Australian Alex de Minaur was surprised by Fabian Marozsan, 91st, who beat him 6-3, 7-5. This is the second big performance in Masters 1000 this season for the Hungarian: in May, he inflicted a surprise defeat on Carlos Alcaraz in Rome.
His next opponent will be Serbian Dusan Lajovic who continued his progress after his Dutch opponent Tallon Griekspoor left the match due to illness.
Finally, in this second round which looked like a massacre for the top 20, the Italian Lorenzo Musetti (18th), was beaten, again in two sets 6-3, 6-4, by Hsu Yu Hsiou, 184th in the ranking. ATP, while Fucsovics (57th) defeated Auger-Aliassime (15th) in three sets 7-6 (7-3), 4-6, 6-3.
No bad surprises, however, for Casper Ruud.
In the next round, the 24-year-old will face American Christopher Eubanks, who beat German Yannick Hanfmann 6-4, 6-7 (8/10), 6-3.
