Alexander Zverev looked on course for another final when he took the opening set in Shanghai, but Alejandro Davidovich Fokina had other ideas. The Spaniard, seeded 25th, fought back to win their semi-final 5-7, 6-4, 6-3 on Saturday and will play for the biggest title of his career on Sunday.
For long stretches the German leaned almost entirely on his serve. He landed more than eight in ten first serves in the opening set and snatched it with a single break at 6-5. Yet he never looked at ease in the longer rallies, and Spanish observers noted that he appeared to be troubled by his foot and later also by his shoulder.
The turning point came late in the second set. Davidovich Fokina, who had been holding comfortably, survived a break point at 4-4 and then broke in the very next game, sealing the set with a superb backhand. In the decider he struck early, helped by a Zverev double fault, and raced to 3-0. The German fended off several match points at 2-5, but could only delay the inevitable.
There was a brief flash of temper too. Midway through the second set Zverev argued with the umpire over a time violation, insisting he had stopped his service motion only because his opponent was reaching for his towel. “I was at my line, he wasn’t ready,” the 29-year-old protested, to no avail.
Davidovich Fokina arrived fresher than his rival: his quarter-final against Arthur Gea lasted only 22 minutes before the Frenchman retired injured. On Sunday he faces either compatriot Rafael Jodar or Daniil Medvedev, and no Spanish man has ever lifted the Shanghai trophy.
For Zverev the defeat stings, but his season remains historic. Having won the French Open in June and the US Open in September, he is set to take over the world number one ranking in the coming weeks, because Jannik Sinner will not play again this year.
