The penultimate Masters 1000 tournament of the season — Shanghai Masters is underway at the Qizhong Forest Sports City Arena, Shanghai.
When do the matches start and how to watch it online
Matches on all days (October 7 to 14) will start at 1 pm local time, 10:30 am IST and 6 am BST.
Sony ESPN and Sony ESPN HD will provide live television coverage of the matches in India. The live stream will be available on Sony Liv.
Djokovic, Federer & London Finals spots in focus
The narrative is definitely going to be around Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic as the two top-ranked tennis stars, in the absence of numero uno Rafael Nadal, will be hoping to assert their dominance over the rest of the pack.
Three-time champion Djokovic heads into the tournament with a chance to cut down Nadal's lead at the top of ATP Race to London Rankings. If the Serb manages to go all the way this week in Shanghai, he will be within 35 points of claiming the top spot and head into the Tour Finals, starting November 11 as the top-seeded player.
Can Djokovic continue top form in Shanghai?
Djokovic, who has put injury woes behind to hit top form once again, is seeded second but the winner of this year's Wimbledon and US Open is considered a favourite.
Having handed a first-round bye, he opens his campaign against world number 41 Jeremy Chardy of France on Tuesday.
The 14-time Grand Slam champion has been handed a relatively tough draw as he may face NextGen ATP champion Hyeon Chung as early as in the third round and seventh seed Kevin Anderson in the quarter-final.
On the other hand, defending champion and top seed Federer will open his campaign against the winner of the first-round match between Daniil Medvedev and Ze Zhang. He may face US Open semi-finalist Kei Nishikori in the quarter-final.
Federer may take on US Open finalist in-form Juan Martin del Potro in the semi-final. Notably, the Argentine star is heading into the tournament on the back of a runner-up finish at China Open last week.
With Nadal, Djokovic, del Potro, and Federer having already clinched a berth in the year-ending ATP Tour Finals, four more berths are up for grabs.
The ongoing tournament will thus be important for the likes of Alexander Zverev. Marin Cilic, Kevin Anderson. Dominic Thiem, Nishikori and John Isner as crucial points are there to be taken.
While Zverev, with 4410 points, is all but certain to make the final eight, the likes of Thiem Cilic (3815), Anderson (3540), and Thiem (3525) will face pressure from Isner (2930) and Nishikori (2820).
Zverev, who is seeded fourth in Shanghai, may face fifth seed Cilic in the quarter-final while sixth seed Thiem may set up a quarter-final clash del Potro.
Seeding information (Top 8)
- Roger Federer
- Novak Djokovic
- Juan Martin del Potro
- Alexander Zverev
- Marin Cilic
- Dominic Thiem
- Kevin Anderson
- Kei Nishikori
Key matches to watch out for
Schedule for Tuesday
- Novak Djokovic vs Jeremy Chardy - Not before 6:30 pm local time, 3:30 pm IST and 11 am BST.
Schedule for Wednesday
- Juan Martin del Potro vs Richard Gasquet - Not before 2 pm local time, 11 am IST.
- Roger Federer vs Daniil Medvedev - Not before 7 pm local time, 4 pm ISt and 12 pm BST.
Shanghai Masters 2018: Global TV guide
- US: ESPN, Tennis Channel
- UK: Sky Sports
- Canada: RDS, TSN
- Italy: Sky Italia
- Japan: NHK
- Switzerland: SRG
