Shanghai Masters: Arthur Gea retires from quarter-final against Davidovich Fokina

After the fifth game, Arthur Gea walked to the net to tell Alejandro Davidovich Fokina he was stopping. Down 4-1 in the first set of Thursday’s quarter-final in Shanghai, the Frenchman had just taken a medical time-out and had his right hip and leg manipulated. No diagnosis has been given.

The Vaucluse native was playing his first main draw at a Masters 1000, and so his first quarter-final at this level. He left the court visibly moved, after a brief wave to the crowd. His quarter-final had lasted five games.

Shelton, Mensik, and the top 50 in sight

To reach the quarter-finals, Gea, 21 and ranked 56th, had beaten Ben Shelton, world number four, then Jakub Mensik, 15th, in the last sixteen: the story of his run is here. Outside the top 200 at the start of the year, he is set to break into the top 50.

Two and a half months with Grégoire Jacq

The run follows a coaching change. For two and a half months, Gea has worked with Grégoire Jacq, formerly ranked 59th in doubles, who took over from the Austrian Gerard Melzer. Jacq had spotted him as a junior: a determined player who had stayed in his memory. The pair spent two weeks training on the BO courts in Biarritz in August. “Physically, you can see he is in good shape. Mentally, it goes with it. Yes, a real grafter, he knows what he wants and he goes straight for it,” Jacq told RMC Sport.

Davidovich Fokina, ranked 25th, moves through to the semi-finals. Gea leaves Shanghai with the best result of his career and one open question: that hip. No timeline for his absence has been given.