Andy Schooler is back with his best bets for round three of the Shanghai Masters, featuring Taylor Fritz v Stefanos Tsitsipas on Monday.
Tennis tips: Shanghai Masters R3 best bets
1pt Francisco Cerundolo to beat Jakub Mensik at 13/10 (bet365, Sporting Index, Spreadex)
1pt Stefanos Tsitsipas to beat Taylor Fritz at 19/10 (William Hill)
Francisco Cerundolo v Jakub Mensik (Sun)
Mensik is a clear favourite for this one but, interestingly, he trails the head-to-head record 3-0.
Two of those matches took place on a hardcourt, the most recent just last week in Beijing where Cerundolo won in straight sets. He didn’t have to face a break point in that one, while creating nine of his own. He converted three.
Across the series as a whole, Cerundolo has held serve 91% of the time and broken in 27% of Mensik’s service games.
The bookies clearly think the slicker Shanghai courts will make the difference but it’s worth noting that another of Cerundolo’s wins came in Madrid where the altitude will have added some spice to the already-big Mensik serve.
The Czech’s delivery certainly worked well in his opening match here – he lost only 10 points behind it and didn’t face a break point as Miomir Kecmanovic was dismissed with ease.
However, we shouldn’t be under-rating Cerundolo’s serve here. He lost just 13 points in his victory over Roman Safiullin in the previous round and has clearly caused Mensik plenty of problems with his first shot in the past.
I think the Argentine is more than capable of getting on top in the rallies if he’s able to return Mensik’s serve well and his forehand is a massive weapon.
All things considered, I’m happy to back the underdog here at 13/10.
Taylor Fritz v Stefanos Tsitsipas (Mon)
Another outsider I like on the third-round coupon is Tsitsipas.
The Greek continues to show signs of returning to the sort of form which made him a regular in the top 10 for many years. He arrives at this match having won 10 of his last 12.
That run includes victories over top-20 stars Arthur Fils, Jiri Lehecka and, on Saturday, Luciano Darderi.
Now he faces a player he’s beaten in four of their previous six meetings and while critics will highlight several of those victories came with Tsitsipas ranked much higher than he currently is, the most recent did come earlier this season, on hardcourts at the United Cup.
Fritz, meanwhile, is on a poor run at present. He’s lost four of his last seven matches and his title run in Washington feels some time ago right now.
Again, I concede that some will be wary of Fritz in the fairly quick conditions. However, they will also help the Tsitsipas serve which has been in good working order – he’s been broken only five times in six matches during the Asian swing.
For me, the Greek looks a spot of value at a top price of 19/10. I’d play down to 7/4.
Posted 10:00 BST on 10/10/2026
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