Sinner avoids Shanghai deja vu with assured win

SHANGHAI — World No 1 Jannik Sinner put some old demons to rest when he made it through to the Rolex Shanghai Masters quarterfinals on Wednesday, beating American Ben Shelton in straight sets.

Last year at the same stage it was Shelton, ranked 16, who was victorious, but on Wednesday the Italian looked confident from the start as he won 6-4, 7-6 (1) in 88 minutes.

Sinner pulled ahead in the ninth game of the first set, breaking when Shelton hit long, then dominated the second-set tiebreak.

"It was very tough, you don't have so much control when you play against him... I just tried to stay strong mentally," said Sinner.

Sinner will face Russia's Daniil Medvedev in the quarterfinals.

Medvedev took out Greece's Stefanos Tsitsipas 7-6 (3), 6-3.

World No 5 Medvedev and Tsitsipas were meeting for the 14th time.

Tsitsipas started the second set strongly, breaking in the first game, but Medvedev broke in the fourth and eighth to progress.

Medvedev and Sinner have met four times this year already in the final stages of tournaments.

Sinner beat Medvedev in the semifinals at Miami, in the quarterfinals at the US Open and in the Australian Open final, but the Russian ended the Italian's hopes in the last eight at Wimbledon in an epic five-set battle.

Also through to the quarterfinals is world No 2 Carlos Alcaraz, who beat Sinner in the China Open final a week ago.

The 21-year-old was facing off against veteran Gael Monfils, winning 6-4, 7-5 for a 12th straight victory. The 38-year-old Frenchman had upset Alcaraz at their last meeting in August at Cincinnati, and the Spaniard admitted that "was on his mind" during the match.

"I'm just really, really happy I won the match, and that I stayed calm through the whole match," he said.

"Playing against Gael is never easy... You need to be focused on every ball," he added.

Four-time Shanghai champion Novak Djokovic and world No 3 Alexander Zverev are also taking part in the ATP 1000 Shanghai Masters.