SHANGHAI – Alejandro Davidovich Fokina produced a major upset by defeating top seed Alexander Zverev 5-7, 6-4, 6-3 on Oct 17 to reach the Shanghai Masters final, where he will face either former world No. 1 Daniil Medvedev or fellow Spaniard Rafael Jodar.

The 25th seed fired 36 winners in the 2hr 2min contest to secure only his second victory over Zverev in eight meetings. His previous win against the German came in the round of 32 at the Canadian Open in 2023.

“I was a little bit nervous,” Davidovich Fokina told the crowd afterwards of his shaky start.

“But I keep going, I keep fighting, every ball,” he said.

Zverev, the French and US Open champion, said fatigue had caught up with him.

“I think a break is quite necessary now,” the 29-year-old told reporters, saying he would monitor his fitness ahead of a tournament in Vienna that begins on Oct 24.

“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,” said Zverev, who had felt his ankle at times in Shanghai.

Davidovich Fokina, 27, broke Zverev for the first time in the match as he captured the second set to force a decider, sealing it with a brilliant point on set point in an entertaining contest played before a lively crowd.

Carrying his momentum into the decider, Davidovich Fokina broke Zverev for a 2-0 lead and never relinquished control, booking a place in the second ATP Masters 1000 final of his career after finishing runner-up in Monte Carlo in 2022.

The result was one of the biggest wins of his career.

World No. 2 Zverev, a seven-time ATP Masters 1000 champion, enjoyed his best run in Shanghai in 2019, when he finished runner-up to Medvedev.

Fifth-seeded Russian Medvedev was taking on 12th-seeded Jodar, 20, in the second semi-final later on Oct 17. REUTERS, AFP