Alejandro Davidovich Fokina completed an impressive comeback victory over Rafael Jodar in the Shanghai Masters final to clinch his very first ATP Masters 1000 title.

Jodar got off to an incredibly strong start and looked to be closing in on a comfortable win after securing the opening 6-1. But the 20-year-old Spaniard’s compatriot was defiant in the second set, holding his nerve in a tiebreak to force a decider.

In the third set, Davidovich Fokina took advantage of a physically hampered Jodar to get over the line and triumph 1-6, 7-6, 6-4 to win it all in Shanghai.

Rafael Jodar speaks after losing the Shanghai Masters final

“It was a great week,” said Jodar, reflecting on the best ATP Masters 1000 campaign of his career thus far in his post-match press conference. “I played a lot of matches. A lot of things to improve for the next tournament. And, yes, I didn’t get the win today, but still happy about how things are going for me.

Discussing what went wrong after winning the first set convincingly, Jodar replied: “Well, he was playing good, too. Little small details in the second set that he played better than me, I think that’s, yeah, why he came back in the second set. And then in third set, very close one, and in the break points, he played better.”

Asked if he felt different entering this clash compared to any other match in his career, he said: “No, the same, another tennis match. Just try to enjoy the moment and the match. Yeah, I gave everything, but it wasn’t meant to be today.”

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Had Jodar won the final against Davidovich Fokina, he would have entered the top 10 for the first time in his career. With the loss, he remains 11th in the ATP rankings, just over 100 points behind 10th-placed Arthur Fils.

Despite failing to crack the top ten, Jodar has strengthened his bid to qualify for the ATP Finals in his debut season. He has extended his lead in the race to Turin over chasers Alex de Minaur and Novak Djokovic.