Davidovich Fokina Topples Top Seed Zverev

Alejandro Davidovich Fokina beat top seed Alexander Zverev 5-7, 6-4, 6-3 in the Shanghai Masters semifinal on Oct. 17, earning a place in the final. The 25th seed came back after dropping the opening set, striking 36 winners in 2 hours and 2 minutes. Zverev’s top-seed status didn’t decide the match.

“I knew that if I stayed there all match, I could get at least one chance and I took it there in the second set,” Davidovich Fokina said. “Then in the third set, I think I was better physically. The early break in the third set gave me a lot of power. I focused on just playing, not mattering about the result but enjoying.”

The top seed loses control

Zverev, World No. 2 and French and US Open champion, won the first set 7-5. Davidovich Fokina broke him for the first time to take the second set, then broke for a 2-0 lead in the third. He controlled the match from there, winning the exchanges rather than relying on the rankings beside each player’s name.

Davidovich Fokina has now beaten Zverev twice in eight meetings. His previous victory over the German came in the round of 32 at the Canadian Open in 2023. This win sends him to the second ATP Masters 1000 final of his career. He finished runner-up in Monte Carlo in 2022.

Zverev said fatigue had caught up with him. He had felt his ankle at times in Shanghai and said he would monitor his fitness before the Vienna tournament, which begins on Oct. 24. “I think a break is quite necessary now,” the 29-year-old told reporters. “I carried a little bit of injury, I carried fatigue into the tournament, and I'm okay to lose to a player like this today.” His comments put the physical cost alongside the tournament’s pecking order: the top seed’s status couldn’t keep injury or fatigue out of the match.

Another final beyond the seed line

Davidovich Fokina will play 20-year-old compatriot Rafael Jodar in the Shanghai final. Jodar beat fifth-seeded Russian Daniil Medvedev 6-3, 6-4, delivering another upset of a higher-seeded player.

In Wuhan, world No. 170 Sonay Kartal became the lowest-ranked player to reach a WTA 1000 final, beating Jelena Ostapenko 7-6 (11-9), 7-6 (7-5) on Oct. 17. The 24-year-old Briton played her second tour event since returning from a six-month injury layoff; a spinal stress fracture had sidelined her from March to September. She’ll face either Poland’s Iga Swiatek or Maja Chwալinska. Kartal reached a career-high ranking of 44 in the world 15 months earlier. She is the lowest-ranked WTA 1000 finalist since the format began in 2009.

The ranking race keeps going

On Oct. 16, Novak Djokovic accepted a wild card for the ATP 500 tournament in Basel later in October, organisers announced. The 39-year-old is seeking a place in the season-ending ATP Finals in Turin, where only the top eight players qualify. The tournament runs Nov. 15-22. Djokovic, a seven-time ATP Finals champion, had fallen to 11th in the Race to Turin standings.

His last appearance in Basel came in 2011, his third time playing there. Earlier in October, he claimed the 102nd title of his career in Beijing, then lost his opening match at the Shanghai Masters. The Turin standings set a clear test: even a champion with 102 career titles remains outside the qualifying places unless his results carry him into the top eight.