Mattia Bellucci, seeded No. 5, defeated Sweden’s Elias Ymer in the first round of qualifying for the Shanghai Masters, 4-6 7-5 7-6(3). The ATP 1000 event is being played on hard courts. The three-set victory, 2:1 in sets, gave the Italian a successful start in qualifying, reports api.tennis.
Two sets decided in short bursts
The first set went to Ymer, 6-4. Bellucci levelled the match in the second, 7-5. Both sets finished with a two-game margin. The deciding set stayed even until the tiebreak, where the Italian won 7:3 (the set score was 7-6(3)) and closed out the match.
According to rank.tennis, Bellucci is ranked No. 91 with 634 points. Ymer is No. 184 with 298 points. Bellucci came to Shanghai on the back of four straight wins at the Jingshan Open. There he beat Filip Peliwo (6-2 6-4), Keisuke Saitoh (6-2 6-2), Alexander Muller (6-0 6-3) and Adam Walton (7-5 6-2).
The Shanghai match was the third meeting between the two. In 2023 in Villena, Bellucci won 3-6 7-6 6-3, while in 2024 in Cary, Ymer prevailed: 7-5 7-5. The Italian now leads their head-to-head 2-1.