Shanghai, China , 5 October 2024 | Vivienne Christie

“Beware the qualifier” is a well-worn phrase in pro tennis circles – and Aleksandar Vukic is showing why at the Rolex Shanghai Masters in China.

In a career-best performance at Asia’s biggest ATP tournament, the world No.91 Sydneysider stunned No.8 seed Casper Ruud to move into the third round.

It marks Vukic’s fourth straight match win at the ATP Masters 1000 event, with the Australian coming through qualifying to take his place the main draw. He defeated Frenchman Corentin Moutet Diallo to set the high-profile meeting with Ruud.

In the final night match on the Stadium Court at Qi Zhong Tennis Centre on Friday, Vukic was all composure as he completed his 6-4 6-4 victory over Ruud in one hour and 19 minutes.

Biggest EVER Win 🤩

Qualifier Aleksander Vukic upsets 8th seed Casper Ruud 6-4 6-4 to record his first ever top 10 win!#RolexShanghaiMasters pic.twitter.com/5nEfqCTdH1

— Tennis TV (@TennisTV) October 4, 2024

“It was a very tough match but I’m playing well, so I didn’t want to change too much,” said the 28-year-old, noting the importance of maintaining winning routines.

“(I wanted to) really stick to my game plan and take it to Casper. I think I did a good job.”

Vukic dominated from the outset against the two-time Grand Slam finalist, seizing his first break point opportunity in the seventh game and converting again on his next opportunity early in the second set.

“I’m very proud of myself … I played a very good match,” he commented. “It was very clean, it doesn’t happen often that you get two out of two (break points). Sometimes it’s like, zero out of 10. So I’ll take it and I’m very pleased with it.”

Registering seven aces among 28 total winners, Vukic most importantly held his nerve as he faced three break points late in the second set.

“I was very nervous, which is normal,” he related. “I played some good points, tried to get it out of my system. Grunted a little more and served well when I needed to.”

Vukic closed out his victory by holding serve to love, sealing the eye-turning victory on his first match point.

It sets a third-round meeting with world No.33 Czech Tomas Machac, a winner over Vukic in their only match in Vienna last year.

Fellow Australians Alexei Popyrin and Jordan Thompson, seeded No.20 and No.26 respectively, will begin their Rolex Shanghai Masters campaigns on Saturday.

Popyrin faces 55^th-ranked Serbian Miomir Kecmanovic, while Thompson takes on Tallon Greeksoort, the world No.40 from thte Netherlands.