Nicolás Mejía could be Alcaraz's first opponent in Shanghai
The preliminary round of the Shanghai Masters 1000 has already determined the last names that will complete the main draw of the tournament, including Nicolás Mejía. The Colombian defeated American Michael Zheng (6-3, 6-4) on Tuesday and secured a spot in the final draw, where he will face Juan Manuel Cerúndolo. The winner of that match will be the first opponent of Carlos Alcaraz.
Mejía, ranked 119th in the world, reached the last round of the preliminaries after overcoming Chun-Hsin Tseng on Monday in a match that ended with the Taipei player retiring while Mejía was leading 6-4 and 1-0. Against Zheng, he had to finish the job and did so without dropping a set. Now he awaits Cerúndolo, ranked 53rd, who comes directly from the main draw.
All twelve names from the preliminary round confirmed
Among the names that have already secured their qualification is Roman Safiullin, the second seed of the preliminaries, who defeated Shintaro Mochizuki 6-2 and 6-3. Bernard Tomic, for his part, claimed his ticket after defeating Timofey Skatov 7-5 and 6-4. Federico Cina also advanced after beating Aziz Dougaz 6-3, 4-6, and 6-4.
Q/LL placed in Shanghai: [LL] Zheng vs. Wu [Q] Wong vs. Halys [Q] Cina vs. Molcan [Q] Sakamoto vs. Trungelliti [Q] Basilashvili vs. Mannarino [Q] Safiullin vs. Hijikata [Q] Bellucci vs. Zhou [Q] Kotov vs. Griekspoor [Q] Simakin vs. Carabelli [Q] Svrcina vs. Norrie [Q] Coppejans vs. Tsitsipas [Q] Tomic vs. Arnaldi [Q] Mejia vs. Cerundolo
— José Morgado (@josemorgado) October 6, 2026
For Alcaraz, the focus will particularly be on the Cerúndolo-Mejía matchup. The Murcian, the second seed, will debut directly in the second round and awaits a challenger from among the two. After winning the ATP 500 in Tokyo, the Spanish player will face his next challenge in Shanghai on an Asian tour that comes with renewed confidence after his return from injury. The path, therefore, already has a first door: Cerúndolo or Mejía. Only one of them will have the privilege of opening the doors of Shanghai for Alcaraz. One of the two will be the man who tests his rest after achieving glory in Japan.
This is an automatic translation. You can read the original news, Alcaraz ya conoce quién podría ser su primer rival en Shanghái