Daniil Medvedev has won his first match since being disqualified at the China Open for hitting a spectator in the eye with a ball he had struck into the stands.
Medvedev beat Jan-Lennard Struff 4-6, 6-4, 6-3 in a second-round match on Saturday at the Shanghai Masters, an ATP 1000 event. The win gives Medvedev a 10-2 career edge over Struff.
Medvedev was disqualified during his semifinal loss on Monday to Novak Djokovic. The incident occurred at the China Open in Beijing, where the Russian hit a ball into the stands and struck a spectator in the eye. Medvedev apologised afterwards, saying it was an accident. The disqualification cost him the US$285,000 prize money he would have earned for reaching the semifinals in Beijing.
It was the fifth-seeded Medvedev’s first match since the disqualification. In the 96-player Shanghai field, the top 32 seeds receive first-round byes.
Other early results
In other early second-round matches on Saturday, fourth-seeded Felix Auger-Aliassime beat Camilo Ugo Carabelli 4-6, 7-6 (1), 7-5.
Second-seeded Carlos Alcaraz, who won last week’s Japan Open, was scheduled to face Juan Manuel Cerundolo in a night match in Shanghai.
Sinner absent
World No. 1 Jannik Sinner withdrew from the Shanghai event when he announced that he would take the rest of 2026 off due to a right knee injury.