Nick Kyrgios Quits After Losing 1st Set to Steve Johnson at Shanghai Masters

Nick Kyrgios executed his own first-round departure from the 2017 Shanghai Masters on Tuesday and stormed out of his tournament opener against American Steve Johnson straight after losing the first set. 

While the Australian drew great attention at the Chinese competition for a second controversial year in succession, the likes of Juan Martin del Potro, Sam Querrey and John Isner all advanced in Shanghai.

Del Potro was one of 15 men's singles players to move ahead in the competition after a stacked Tuesday schedule, where American Jack Sock and German Mischa Zverev also retired early in their respective matchups.

Fourth-seeded Marin Cilic and Richard Gasquet also advanced to the third round of the competition with respective wins against Kyle Edmund and Hyeon Chung.

Champion Andy Murray isn't present to defend his title due to injury, but his replacement, Slovenian-born Aljaz Bedene, flew a strong flag for Great Britain after he beat Paolo Lorenzi to a second-round place.

Read on for a roundup of Tuesday's results from the 2017 Shanghai Masters.

Tuesday's Shanghai Masters Results

• John Isner bt. Dusan Lajovic: 6-4, 6-7 (5), 7-6 (6)
• Alexandr Dolgopolov bt. Jack Sock (retired): 4-6, 6-1, 2-1
• Ryan Harrison bt. Zhang Ze: 6-2, 6-3
• Aljaz Bedene bt. Paolo Lorenzi: 6-1, 6-4
• Kevin Anderson bt. Adrian Mannarino: 6-3, 6-1
• Jan-Lennard Struff bt. Mischa Zverev (retired): 3-6, 6-5
• David Schwartzman bt. Jordan Thompson: 6-4, 7-6 (4)
• Albert Ramos-Vinolas bt. Pablo Carreno Busta: 7-5, 7-5
• Steve Johnson bt. Nick Kyrgios (retired): 7-6 (5)
• Viktor Troicki bt. Denis Shapovalov: 6-7 (3), 6-3, 6-0
• Sam Querrey bt. Yuichi Sugita: 6-3, 6-2
• Fabio Fognini bt. Lucas Pouille: 7-6 (7), 6-3
• Juan Martin del Potro bt. Andrey Rublev: 6-3, 6-4
• Richard Gasquet vs. Hyeon Chung: 3-6, 6-4, 6-3
• Marin Cilic bt. Kyle Edmund: 6-3, 7-6 (5)

Recap

It was at the Shanghai Masters last year that Kyrgios incurred an ATP Tour suspension due to an apparent lack of effort, and the Australian's apparent gripes with officials continued as he exited the tournament on Tuesday.

The Telegraph's Vicki Hodges suggested that was the cause for his most recent early retirement, and broadcaster Bill Woods highlighted Tuesday's incident didn't come without warning:

No sooner had Kyrgios lost the first set to Johnson on a tiebreaker 7-5 that the young upstart beelined to shake his opponent's hand and take his leave of the competition, as Tennis TV depicted:

His peers were content to make do with the officiating, however, and Del Potro, in particular, managed to get by with a 6-3, 6-4 win over Russia's Andrey Rublev that saw him into the third round.

The Argentinian blitzed his opponent from the baseline and racked up 14 aces to his opponent's three, per Flashscores.com, in a matchup that saw his serving dominance come into full effect:

Cilic made relatively light work of British contender Edmund and failed to concede a break of serve en route to a 6-3, 7-6 (5) win, but Gasquet was made to prove his worth in a back-and-forth encounter against Chung.

Chung, 21, is quickly gathering pace as one of Asia's emerging players to watch, and the South Korean won the first set before surrendering a 3-6, 6-4, 6-3 result to his French foe, although not without leaving his impression on tennis writer Jose Morgado:

Elsewhere, Albert Ramos Vinolas surprised seventh-seeded and Spanish compatriot Pablo Carreno Busta with a 7-5, 7-5 edging, and Italy's Fabio Fognini pulled off an upset 7-6 (7), 6-3 win over French up-and-comer Lucas Pouille.

Bedene was forced out of the China Open last week after retiring in his match against Roberto Bautista Agut, but the Briton was back in action and defeated Lorenzi in straight sets to book a second-round spot in Shanghai.

His reward is a meeting with Alexander Zverev, with the German prodigy taking the tennis world by storm and whom he'll hope will show some signs of rust after getting a bye into the second stage of the Masters.

Of the three retirements that came to pass during Tuesday's singles draw, Kyrgios took the biggest headlines, but as Tennis TV explained, an early departure for Sock against Alexandr Dolgopolov was something of a surprise, too:

It's likely the weather was a big factor in his decision and that of Mischa Zverev, who ended his meeting against Jan-Lennard Struff early after falling 6-5 behind in the second set, having won the opener 6-3.