Jenson Brooksby breezes to second round in Shanghai

Jenson Brooksby recorded a 7-6 (2), 6-1 victory over Japan's James Trotter on Thursday in their first-round match of the Shanghai Masters.

Brooksby continued his strong form at the ATP Masters 1000 tournament in China after reaching the semifinals at the Japan Open earlier this week.

He fired six aces and won 84 percent of his first-serve points to dispatch Trotter in 1 hour, 40 minutes.

Brooksby's second-round opponent will be Tallon Griekspoor of the Netherlands.

The top-seeded players in Shanghai all received first-round byes, including China Open winner Jannik Sinner and Novak Djokovic. Those two players will not play their opening matches until Friday.

As for other matches on Thursday, Italian Matteo Arnaldi defeated Japan's Rei Sakamoto 7-6 (3), 6-4; Frenchman Benjamin Bonzai toppled Reilly Opelka 7-6 (2), 6-4; Portugal's Nuno Borges outlasted Botic van de Zandschulp of the Netherlands 7-6 (5), 7-6 (5); Argentina's Francisco Comesana ousted Frenchman Ugo Blanchet, 6-4, 6-2.

In addition, France's Quentin Halys breezed to a 6-3, 6-2 victory over Mackenzie McDonald and Kamil Majchrzak of Poland coasted to a 6-3, 6-4 win over Ethan Quinn. Australian Christopher O'Connell notched a 6-2 ,6-4 triumph over Damir Dzumhir of Bosnia-Herzegovina and Chile's Alejandro Tabilo cruised to a 6-4, 6-3 victory over Marcos Giron.

Chinese wild card Juncheng Shang opened with a 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 win against Aleksandar Kovacevic. He struck 32 winners to advance in just under two hours.

"This year has been the toughest so far in my life but it is not enough to knock me down," said Shang, who was sidelined earlier this year with a foot injury. "But playing at home feels great, with a full crowd and everyone cheering as loud as they can for me, which gives me a lot of energy. As everyone says, if it doesn't knock you down, you are going to come back stronger and that is what I am trying to do."

Frenchmen Arthur Cazaux and Valentin Royer as well as Jesper de Jong of the Netherlands needed three sets to win their respective first-round match. Cazaux posted a 6-3, 3-6, 7-5 win over Spaniard Pedro Martinez, while Royer and de Jong each overcame a first-set misstep in their matches. Royer notched a 3-6, 6-4, 6-4 victory over Argentine Mariano Navone, while de Jong secured a 6-7 (1), 6-2, 7-6 (3) victory over China's Yi Zhou.

China's Yunchaokete Bu pulled out a 6-3, 6-7 (5), 6-3 win against Argentina's Juan Manuel Cerundolo.

Frenchman Arthur Rinderknech, Czech qualifier Dalibor Svrcina and Argentine Camilo Ugo Carabelli each won their respective matches after their opponents retired.

--Field Level Media