Novak Djokovic suffered a surprise second-round loss to Hubert Hurkacz at the Shanghai Masters, coming just three days after he triumphed at the China Open in Beijing. The veteran player had recently ended an 11-month drought to claim the 102nd title of his career after his opponent retired injured in the Beijing final.
Contesting his sixth match in the space of 10 days, Djokovic fell to Hurkacz for the first time in nine career meetings against the Polish competitor. The big-serving Hurkacz, who won the tournament in 2023 and is ranked 34th in the world, secured a 6-4, 6-3 victory in 87 minutes.
Following the match, Hurkacz acknowledged the milestone of defeating such a legendary champion after seven unsuccessful years of trying. He noted the challenge of facing Djokovic immediately after his Beijing victory while expressing his pleasure at sharing the court with him.
Djokovic, the record 24-time Grand Slam winner, had claimed a tour-level singles title for the 21st consecutive year in Beijing, extending his winning streak at the venue to 34 matches. That success followed only his second final appearance of the year, which came in January when he was defeated by Carlos Alcaraz at the Australian Open.
In Shanghai, however, Djokovic's campaign was undone by a single break of serve in each set against Hurkacz. Despite his recent victory in Beijing boosting his qualification hopes for the season-ending ATP Finals, the loss leaves him ninth in the race to Turin and means he will need a strong performance at the Paris Masters in November to break into the top eight.
Elsewhere at the Shanghai tournament, Great Britain's Arthur Fery was eliminated following a grueling three-set match against former top-10 player Karen Khachanov. Fery, who put together a strong run at Wimbledon earlier in the year, fell 7-6, 6-7, 7-6 after battling for three and a half hours.