ATP Dubai: Shang Juncheng loses again to Medvedev, exits back-to-back first rounds in Middle East season

On February 24th Beijing time, the ATP 500 Dubai tournament continued with the men's singles first round matches. In a match held early on the center court, Shang Juncheng battled against the tournament's No. 3 seed Medvedev for 66 minutes but was defeated 1-6, 3-6, ending his run in the opening round. Medvedev will face Swiss veteran Wawrinka in the second round, marking their sixth meeting, with the Russian leading their head-to-head 3-2 previously.

Shang Juncheng

Shang Juncheng entered the main singles draw at Dubai this year using a protected ranking. Just a week ago at the Doha tournament, he also faced Medvedev in the first round and lost 4-6, 2-6. However, Medvedev was then defeated by his longtime rival Tsitsipas in the second round and did not advance further. It seems fate has set a challenge for this young Chinese player, making him face the former world No. 1 in two consecutive Middle East tournaments.

In today's rematch, Shang Juncheng started off slowly, with Medvedev quickly breaking twice to take a 5-0 lead. Although Shang showed some improvement near the end of the set by holding serve in the sixth game, Medvedev closed out the set strongly with a love game to win 6-1. In the second set, Shang's serving and baseline play improved, and the two players were level at 3-3 after six games. However, Shang failed to hold serve after missing two break points in the seventh game. Medvedev capitalized on this chance and then won three consecutive games at the end to seal the set 6-3 and the match.

With Shang Juncheng losing in straight sets to Medvedev, and Zhang Zhizhen having been defeated earlier today by the tournament's top seed Alcaraz, no Chinese players remain in the men's singles draw at Dubai. According to the schedule, Shang's next event will be the Indian Wells Masters starting in early March, where he is the only Chinese player qualified in the men's singles. Shang has participated in this tournament three times before, with his best result being reaching the round of 64 in 2024 after advancing from the qualifiers.

Shang Juncheng is competing in both singles and doubles at this tournament. Last night, partnering with Bublik, the wildcard duo of He Chengrui/Jebens secured their first ATP Tour main draw doubles victory. They will face the winners between the No. 3 seeds Heliovaara/Partanen and Bambridge/Johansson in the second round. Although Shang’s singles campaign in the Middle East ended early again, drawing Medvedev in two consecutive tournaments was unfortunate luck. The consecutive losses are understandable, and hopefully he can regain form in doubles. We look forward to seeing his performance in the sunny doubles events ahead.

(Text and editing by Wang Fei, photos courtesy of Visual China)