Shapovalov Pulls Out of Shanghai Masters With Hip Injury

Denis Shapovalov has withdrawn from the Shanghai Masters before his first-round match with the hip injury that forced him to retire against Carlos Alcaraz in Tokyo, cutting short a promising Asian swing; lucky loser Michael Zheng replaces him in the draw.

Shapovalov Pulls Out of Shanghai Masters With Hip Injury

Denis Shapovalov's Asian swing is over. The 27-year-old Canadian has withdrawn from this week's Shanghai Masters with the hip injury he picked up in Tokyo, days after a promising week in Japan ended in a quarter-final retirement against Carlos Alcaraz. Shapovalov had been playing some of his best tennis of the season in Tokyo, beating Sho Shimabukuro and Alejandro Tabilo to reach the last eight, where he pushed Alcaraz hard before hurting his hip stretching for a running forehand early in the second set. He took an off-court medical timeout but was visibly restricted on his return and retired trailing 7-6(3), 2-1. RotoWire listed him as "Out — Injury (Hip)" on Tuesday, with an estimated return of October 26, and noted he was replaced in the Shanghai draw by lucky loser Michael Zheng. The withdrawal stings because Shapovalov, currently world No. 42 with a 21-21 season record, had started to rebuild after a lean year. A Chengdu semi-final the week before and the Tokyo quarter-final were his best results since reaching the Los Cabos semi-final earlier this season. He had been drawn to face Cameron Norrie in Shanghai's first round. According to the withdrawal report, Shapovalov apologized to fans and now plans to rest and return at full strength for the remainder of the calendar year.