Jannik Sinner has not been at his usual dominant best, blanking opponents with bags of aces and breadsticks, since arriving in China last month. Nevertheless, he continues to get the job done. Just a few days ago, he claimed his third title of the year and first outside the Grand Slams in Beijing, and after a solid rest, he opened his Shanghai Masters campaign with a straight-sets win over Daniel Altmaier.
The former world No. 1 has never successfully defended a Masters title in his career, and he will aim to do so this fortnight. His chances are strong, especially since he has the luxury of not facing his rival Carlos Alcaraz. Sinner won his fourth and most recent Masters title here in Shanghai last year, defeating top players such as Daniil Medvedev and Novak Djokovic.
Since the start of Shanghai 2024, Sinner has played 40 hard-court matches and won 38 of them, with both losses coming only against Carlos Alcaraz, in the finals at the Cincinnati Masters and the US Open a few weeks ago. Moreover, he has reached the final in every hard-court event he has entered during this period.
You have to go all the way back to 2023 to find Sinner’s last defeat to a non-top-20 player on hard courts, his most dominant surface. That loss came against Dusan Lajovic in the Cincinnati Masters opener, when he was tired and fatigued following his Canadian Masters title run. Currently, he is on a 59-match winning streak in such matches.
Ahead of the Asian swing, Tallon Griekspoor admitted he had not been in the right mental space, lacking confidence and not finding enough joy on the court. These issues could have worsened had he lost his Shanghai Masters opener. He wasted eight break-point chances in the second set and was dragged into a deciding set by Jenson Brooksby. Fortunately, Griekspoor managed to prevent further accumulation of negative feelings by dominating the decider, securing an important 6-1, 1-6, 6-1 victory.
This was an important and morale-boosting win for the Dutchman, as it ended a seven-match losing streak on the main tour dating back to ATP Bastad in June. While he would have liked to build on this momentum with a few more wins, his path is now blocked by the world No. 2 and tournament favorite, Jannik Sinner, in the third round. Griekspoor faced a big name in the third round of the Shanghai Masters in 2024 as well, putting up a strong fight before losing in three sets to Alexander Zverev.
Griekspoor has a poor career record of 1-20 against top-5 players, with his sole win coming at the Masters level in Indian Wells earlier this week, where he defeated top seed Alexander Zverev in three sets.
Head-to-head: Jannik Sinner leads 6-0. In the 2025 season, this is probably the best time to face Sinner, who had been ultra-dominant earlier but has shown slightly less ruthlessness since the start of the Asian swing. That said, Tallon Griekspoor is going through a tough phase right now and is unlikely to cause too many problems for Sinner in his current form.