Spaniard Jodar will next face Tokyo finalist Lehecka

Rafael Jodar earned a confidence-boosting win on Saturday at the Rolex Shanghai Masters, where he battled past Thiago Agustin Tirante 4-6, 6-2, 6-3 to reach the third round on debut.

The 20-year-old has enjoyed a breakthrough season, climbing from outside the Top 100 in January to the brink of the Top 10. The World No. 13 Jodar has won his first tour-level title in Marrakech and reached his maiden major quarter-final at Roland Garros.

However, arriving in Shanghai, the Spaniard was in need of rediscovering his best level, having suffered first-round exits at the US Open and in Tokyo last week, either side of a Laver Cup win against Alexander Bublik. After dropping the first set against Tirante, Jodar remained calm and rose to the occasion.

Jodar won 93 per cent of his first-serve points in the second set and then battled hard in the decider, saving all six break points to set a third-round meeting with Jiri Lehecka, who beat Nuno Borges 6-3, 3-6, 6-3.

Jodar is 11th in the PIF ATP Live Race To Turin and is trying to cap his dream breakout season by qualifying for the Nitto ATP Finals. Jodar would become just the third player, after Carlos Alcaraz and Stefanos Tsitsipas, to compete at the prestigious year-end event the season after playing at the Next Gen ATP Finals.

In other action, fifth seed Daniil Medvedev also rallied back to down Jan-Lennard Struff 4-6, 6-4, 6-3 and improve to 10-2 in the pair’s Lexus ATP Head2Head series.

Medvedev has now earned a Tour-leading 31 hard-court wins in 2026, highlighted by his titles on the surface in Dubai, Brisbane and last month in Hangzhou. The 2019 Shanghai champion will next play Tomas Martin Etcheverry or Dalibor Svrcina.

Medvedev is currently eighth in the PIF ATP Live Race To Turin and is aiming to qualify for the year-end event for the seventh time, having missed the cut last year.

Fourth seed Felix Auger-Aliassime also took the scenic route but found enough in the closing stages of the second and third sets to overcome Camilo Ugo Carabelli 4-6, 7-6(1), 7-5. The Canadian squandered a 5-2 lead in the second set before eventually levelling and then earned the decisive break of the deciding set in the 11th game.

Auger-Aliassime, currently 14th in the Live Race To Turin, plays Alejandro Tabilo or Pablo Carreno Busta in the third round.

Another Turin contender, Taylor Fritz, progressed in straight sets in a match that finished under the roof on Grandstand 2 due to rain. The American, 12th in the Live Race To Turin, beat Matteo Arnaldi 7-5, 6-4.