It took barely an hour of play for Grégoire Barrère, 73rd in the ATP rankings, to win against Nuno Borges (6-2, 6-2) on Thursday, in the first round of the Masters 1000 in Shanghai. By breaking from the start (2-0), the Frenchman quickly imposed his rhythm on the Portuguese, 85th in the world.
The latter had almost given up in the middle of the second set (4-1) and showed signs of irritation after several unforced errors. He finally saved a service game, before Barrère unfolded, in a hurry to finish it. The Frenchman will meet the Spaniard world number 2, Carlos Alcaraz, in the second round.
Alexandre Muller, ranked 81st in the ATP, was eliminated from the start by Kazakh Mikhail Kukushkin (6-7[8], 6-3, 6-2), 245th in the world and from qualifying. Four other French people are playing this Thursday in Shanghai: Arthur Fils, Terence Atmane, Quentin Halys and Luca van Assche.
