Zhizhen Zhang took the first set 6-1, and nothing suggested the match would turn around. However, the Czech Tomas Machac won the next two sets, 7-6 and 6-2, to beat the Chinese player at the Rolex Shanghai Masters. This round-of-128 win at the ATP 1000 event opened the door to the next round for him.
The turnaround in the second set
According to api.tennis, at the start of the tournament in Shanghai Machac was not seeded. Zhang was not seeded either. In the rankings, as rank.tennis reports, Machac is 79th with 733 points, Zhang 163rd with 340 points.
Before Shanghai, Machac played at the China Open and lost to Alex Molcan 3-6, 2-6 in the round of 32. Zhang lost to Arthur Cazaux 4-6, 3-6 at the same tournament. Machac has now switched to Shanghai hard courts with a three-set victory.