Shanghai Rolex Masters 2017: Rafael Nadal Advancing Tops Wednesday Results

Rafael Nadal advanced to the third round of the 2017 Shanghai Rolex Masters after demolishing Jared Donaldson in straight sets 6-2, 6-1 on Wednesday.  

The 2009 runner-up will face Italian Fabio Fognini at the next stage of the competition and was joined in the third round by third seed Alexander Zverev, who capitalised on Aljaz Bedene's early retirement to proceed.

Second seed Roger Federer also booked his spot in the third round thanks to a 7-6 (4), 6-4 win over Diego Schwartzman, and he'll face Aleksandr Dolgopolov, who defeated Feliciano Lopez 7-6 (4), 1-6, 6-4 to squeeze through.

Elsewhere, 2014 runner-up Gilles Simon continued his run in Shanghai and pulled off a shock win over Belgian David Goffin, who made a woeful introduction to the tournament and fell to his French foe in straight sets.

Later in the day, fifth seed Dominic Thiem was eliminated in a thrilling match against Viktor Troicki, while 12th seed John Isner came through in two tiebreaks against Stefanos Tsitsipas.

Read on for a roundup of all the action from the 2017 Shanghai Masters, complete with scores and a look toward what's in store.

Wednesday's Results

• (6) Grigor Dimitrov bt. Ryan Harrison: 3-6, 6-3, 7-6 (6)
• (3) Alexander Zverev bt. Aljaz Bedene (retired): 4-0
• Gilles Simon bt. (8) David Goffin: 7-6 (4), 6-3
• (10) Sam Querrey bt. Frances Tiafoe: 6-3, 7-6 (7)
• (11) Kevin Anderson bt. Jan-Lennard Struff: TBD
• Aleksandr Dolgopolov bt. Feliciano Lopez: 7-6 (4), 1-6, 6-4
• (1) Rafael Nadal bt. Jared Donaldson: 6-2, 6-1
• Steve Johnson bt. Di Wu: 6-2, 6-1
• (2) Roger Federer vs. Diego Schwartzman: 7-6 (4), 6-4
• (12) John Isner bt. Stefanos Tsitsipas: 7-6 (2), 7-6 (9)
• Viktor Troicki bt. (5) Dominic Thiem: 6-3, 3-6, 7-6 (5)

Visit the official Shanghai Masters website for a look at the results and schedule in full.

Recap

A tournament-opening victory over Donaldson on Wednesday saw Nadal beat his second-round collapse at the 2016 Shanghai Masters.

What started as an evenly weighted clash quickly began to unfold after Nadal broke first to lead 4-2 in the opening set. Before Donaldson knew what hit him, he was a set down and halfway to falling out of the competition, as noted by tennis writer Jose Morgado:

It didn't help Donaldson's case that he was coming apart without Nadal's aid—evidenced by the fact he had contributed five double faults, per Flashscores.com—and surrendered his serve twice in each set.

After putting together a seven-game streak between sets, Nadal ended the second with another three-game blitz in what was an easy outing against the world No. 56, per Eleanor Crooks of the Press Association:

Federer was pushed in a tight first set against Schwartzman and managed to top the tiebreak despite falling 0-2 initially, triumphing in an opener that saw both players drop serve in successive games as the Swiss shook off some rust.

Schwartzman's second set started disastrously as a shaky line call led to him conceding a break, from which Federer powered ahead to victory, although his South American opponent deserved praise for holding mightily on his own serve by and large.

The world No. 26 entertained by prising open his box of tricks and spinning forehand winners at times, but the war was won by Federer, whose straight-sets win ended a barren run in this territory:

Neither Federer nor Nadal will have to worry about Thiem in pursuit of this title, as the Austrian suffered a shock exit.

After losing the opening set the fifth seed looked to have recovered his best form in the second set. However, in a deciding tiebreak it was Troicki who showed greater composure on the key points.

Johnson hit seven aces in a straight-sets beating of Wu and wrapped up his win in just 49 minutes to save some energy for a third-round clash with Cilic, having already seen Nick Kyrgios give up after one set in the first round.

Earlier, Dolgopolov showed highs and lows en route to a 7-6 (4), 1-6, 6-4 win over Spaniard Lopez, who was edged out by a narrow margin following a three-set tussle.

One week removed from his early retirement at the 2017 China Open, Bedene's injury woes came back to haunt him on Wednesday as concerns over his right knee again caused the Britain to bow out.

German opponent Zverev led by four games to love when Bedene decided it would be better off preserving his body for the battles to come, via Tennis TV:

Sam Querrey and Grigor Dimitrov were also among the seeded entrants who moved past lesser opposition on Wednesday, and they each defeated American opposition in Frances Tiafoe and Ryan Harrison, respectively, to advance.

Dimitrov was pegged back a set by Harrison before winning two in succession—the second via tiebreak—to walk out a 3-6, 6-3, 7-6 (6) victor. The Bulgarian was staring at defeat in the decider, 30-0 down with the score 5-4 in Harrison's favour, but he fought back to triumph in a match that featured several hairy moments:

Querrey's win over compatriot Tiafoe was more routine for the former, and Simon's surprise triumph over No. 8 seed Goffin also passed by in straight sets, a lot faster than some might have presumed the Frenchman was capable.

Although Goffin's first-serve figures were superior to his opponent's, per Flashscores.com, Simon managed to convert two crucial break points to his foe's none in a match that was decided by the finest of margins.