Alex de Minaur leads a group of five Australian men to participate in the main drawing of the ATP Masters 1000 event in Shanghai this week.
Shanghai, China, 1 October 2025 | Rhys de Virtue
Since the second ATP Masters 1000 event of the season takes place this week in Shanghai, Alex de Minaur is in strong form and with a great opportunity that lies for us.
With a chance to compensate for the points he missed after withdrawing due to an injury last year, the Minaur in Shanghai arrives after a career-best China Open campaign in Beijing, where he reached the semi-final of the ATP 500 event.
His run came to an end when he was defeated in three sets by top seeds and heavy favorite, Jannik Sinner.
“I mean, you take the positives,” said the Minaur, who forced 12 breaking point options for the competition.
“In general, I believe it was a match he eventually won because I had five minutes where I dropped my level, and it wasn’t even bad tennis, I dropped it for a moment.”
Despite this result that Sinner’s lead over the Minaur extended to 11-0, the game remained everywhere in the balance, and this was by far the best performance of the Minaur against the four-time Grand Slam champion.
“I am proud of my efforts. I think it will certainly amount to the amount of breaking points I have and I can’t break,” he said. “But in the end it was just that Jannik was too good at those moments.”
The Minaur leads a five-person Aussie contingent at this week’s ATP Masters 1000 event in Shanghai, all with the aim of becoming the first Australian to eliminate the trophy in the history of the tournament.
Adam Walton, Jordan Thompson and Chris O’Connell all received direct access to the event, while Tristan Schoolkate earned his place through qualifying.
Schoolkate continues its breakthrough year at ATP Masters 1000 level and qualifies for its third main drawing of the season in 2025.
The Western Australian defeated Beibit Zhukayev from Kazakhstan to become the only Australian qualifying match, after winning a three-set thriller about colleague Aussie James McCabe in the opening round.
Schoolkate will be confronted with Daniel Altmaier in the first round of the main drawing, while Queenslander Walton will be confronted with Mattia Bellucci.
New South Welshmen Thompson and O’Connell will be confronted against August Holmgren and Damir Dzumhur respectively.
Rinky Hijikata, Aleksandar Vukic and Jason Kubler all just missed the main drawing after falling in the final phase of the qualification.
Aussies in Action: Shanghai Masters
Aussies in Singles: Alex de Minaur (World No.8), Adam Walton (World No.77), Jordan Thompson (World no. 78), Tristan Schoolkate (World No. 100), Chris O’Connell (World No. 103),,
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