Liam Draxl broke Hugo Gaston five times in his opening Shanghai Masters qualifying match. He converted five of seven break points and served ten aces to beat the fourth qualifying seed 7-5, 6-4 on October 5, 2026.
Against sixteenth qualifying seed Nikoloz Basilashvili the next day, Draxl again won the first set 7-5. He then lost the next two 5-7, 4-6, ending his run in the second qualifying round.
Draxl increased his ace count to twelve in that match but converted only two of six break points. Basilashvili took three of eight and held fifteen of seventeen service games, compared with Draxl’s fourteen of seventeen.
Draxl won 52 of 76 first-serve points; Basilashvili won 49 of 62. Twenty-two aces across the two matches and five breaks in the opener were not enough to overcome the extra service game conceded in the final qualifying round.
