Shanghai Masters predictions and tennis betting tips: Alcaraz looks unstoppable

The Shanghai Masters gets underway on Wednesday with Dan Evans the only Britain in the singles draw after he came through qualifying (Sky Sports Tennis).

British number one Jack Draper was forced to pull out of the tournament after suffering an abdominal injury, which caused him to retire during his Japan Open quarter-final against France’s Ugo Humbert.

Cameron Norrie also misses out after failing to recover from the forearm injury that forced him to sit out the US Open and recent Davis Cup ties.

There seems to be no let up in the tennis calendar right now with the Asia swing coming on the back of the Davis Cup group stages, while at the time of writing, we have yet to see the conclusion of the China Open with the world number one Jannik Sinner and number three Carlos Alcaraz set to contest Wednesday’s final.

Alcaraz beat Daniil Medvedev 7-5 6-3 in the semi-final in Beijing, while Sinner secured a straight-set win over Chinese wildcard Bu Yunchaokete.

Both players have a bye in the first round in Shanghai, along with the other 30 seeds, so it will take a while for the excitement to build in this one.

It’s hard to see the winner coming from beyond the top four in the world right now and the Shanghai Masters odds on betting sites largely reflect that with Alcaraz the 3/1 favourite, Sinner a best-price of 7/2 and Novak Djokovic 4/1.

We can’t see a repeat of the China Open final in Shanghai as both Alcaraz and Sinner are in the same half draw, which does make things a bit more interesting and could give someone else a chance.

Sinner has the harder draw and could face former champion Daniil Medvedev in the quarter-finals to set up a potential semi-final with Alcaraz.

Hubert Hurkacz is the defending champion after he beat Andrey Rublev in three sets 12 months ago and he will believe he has a chance to go all the way again.

The only other previous winners in the field are Medvedev, who won in 2019 and Djokovic, who has unsurprisingly won this event a record four times and never been beaten when he’s reached the final.

Although we’ve seen Alcaraz slip up at times, he’s tough to oppose in this spot having looked sharp in Beijing, not dropping a set on his way to the final and punters could be forgiven for considering the 3/1 available on some tennis betting sites.

Shanghai Masters prediction 1: Carlos Alcaraz to win the Shanghai Masters - 3/1 Betfred

With Sinner and Alcaraz in the same half of the draw, it makes things a lot more interesting for the likes of Djokovic, Alexander Zverev and Rublev, who will be plotting a route to the final.

Djokovic will have to be at his best to win this event for a fifth time and hasn’t been helped by the draw. He faces either Alex Michelsen or in-form Chinese player Buyunchaokete in the second round in what will be only his second match since suffering a stunning loss in the third round of the US Open to Alexei Popyrin.

Rublev is always a threat on his day, although his chances depend more on his mental state rather than his tennis ability, but he’s still an interesting each-way option at 50/1 on betting apps.

The Russian has won 16 ATP Tour singles titles, including two Masters 1000 events and he’s reached one final this year. Another run to the title decider would net bettors a profit with Unibet paying half the starting odds on each-way selections for the Shanghai Masters. We also advise shopping around the UK’s new betting sites for enhanced each-way odds.

Shanghai Masters prediction 2: Andrey Rublev to win the Shanghai Masters - 50/1 each-way Unibet

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