Zverev Aims To Move Closer To Attaining World No. 1 Ranking At Shanghai Masters

Alexander Zverev
Alexander Zverev (photo: Jürgen Hasenkopf)

SHANGHAI/WASHINGTON, October 7, 2026 (by Michael Dickens)

Alexander Zverev leads all players on the ATP Tour in match victories this season with 58, spotlighted by his Roland-Garros and US Open title triumphs. Now, as the penultimate ATP Masters 1000 event, the Rolex Shanghai Masters, gets underway at the Qi Zhong Tennis Center in this Chinese city known for its fusion of Eastern and Western Culture, the World No. 2 from Germany looks for his eighth ATP Masters 1000 title – and first one since Paris in 2024 – seven years after reaching the 2019 Shanghai final.

With 2024 champion Jannik Sinner‘s season ended this week due to a right knee injury, Zverev aims to move closer to attaining the World No. 1 ranking. He will begin his run later this week against 113th-ranked Chinese wild card Wu Yibing, who was a first-day winner over lucky loser Michael Zheng of the United States, ranked No. 94, 6-3, 7-6 (6), in back of 43 winners.

Zverev’s route to the Shanghai title could include encounters against No. 27 seed Alexander Blockx of Belgium in the third round, No. 16 seed Brandon Nakashima of the United States in the round of 16, No. 6 seed Flavio Cobolli in the quarterfinals and No. 3 seed Ben Shelton of the United States in the semifinals.

In his most recent tournament, Zverev reached the quarterfinals at the China Open in Beijing before losing a tough, three-setter to eventual champion Novak Djokovic of Serbia on Sunday.

“I had a tough one here, for sure. It’s a loss that I could have avoided. I had chances to win this match,” Zverev said after the loss. “But I think Novak was at his very best. Going to trust my abilities in Shanghai. Hopefully I can play even better there and definitely have a better result there.”

Meanwhile, defending champion Valentin Vacherot of Monaco returns to defending his title with a career-high ranking of World No. 14, a year after defeating his cousin, Arthur Rinderknech of France, in the title match while ranked No. 204. Seeded No. 17, he will face either No. 53 Sebastian Baez of Argentina or No. 88 Marcos Giron of the United States in his opening-round match.

In Vacherot’s half of the draw is none other than World No. 3 and second seed Carlos Alcaraz of Spain, who is fresh off winning the Japan Open and arrives in Shanghai on a six-match winning streak and playing in his first ATP Masters 1000 event since reaching the final at Monte-Carlo last April.

Altmaier calls Rune victory an important one 

Daniel Altmaier of Germany equaled his best result in Shanghai after coming back to beat Denmark’s Holger Rune, 1-6, 7-6 (5), 6-4, in a late-night thriller that stretched across two hours and 15 minutes on Grandstand 2 Wednesday to reach the second round.

The victory improved Altmaier’s 2026 win-loss record to 16-26, while Rune, who was playing in his third event of the season after returning from a torn left Achilles tendon he suffered in Stockholm a year ago, is now 2-2. The victory leveled Altmaier’s career head-to-head against Rune at 1-1.

The 67th-ranked Altmaier hit 20 winners – including eight aces – and won 75 percent of his first-serve points against the 195th-ranked Rune, who entered the Shanghai main draw with a protected ranking (No. 14). He converted the only break point he had against Rune and was outpointed 90-81. Rune countered with 29 winners but also made 26 unforced errors.

“It brought the fighting spirit out of me,” Altmaier said of the passing-shot winner that set up match point, during his on-court interview with ATP Media. “My confidence hasn’t been the highest but I felt like if I put one more over the net it’s always going to help. It paid off in a very special moment today.”

With Altmaier’s season having been filled with many disappointments, he said his win over Rune was “hugely important.

“I haven’t had a great [past] three weeks,” he said, referring back to his first-round loss at the US Open, a loss in the Germany-Croatia Davis Cup Qualifiers tie and a qualifying draw defeat in Beijing. “It’s important to get hold of momentum and I think I can keep building from this win on.”

Next, Altmaier will face No. 3 seed Ben Shelton of the United States.

Around the Rolex Shanghai Masters

• Former Shanghai semifinalist Matteo Berrettini of Italy, ranked 46th, rallied past defeat No. 81 Aleksandar Kovacevic of the United States, 6-7 (3), 6-1, 6-4, to reach the second round. Coming off a pair of second-round defeats at the US Open and the China Open, the 46th-ranked Berrettini struck 23 aces and did not face any break points. Next, he will face No. 16 seed Brandon Nakashima of the United States.

“I didn’t let myself down and I fought back and I kept playing and that was the reaction I wanted,” Berrettini said, quoted by the ATP Tour website. “I am really proud of it.”

• No. 37 Arthur Fery of Great Britain has earned eight of his 16 tour-level wins on hard courts this season, highlighted by his run to the Winston-Salem final in August. His latest hard-court success came Wednesday evening on Stadium Court as he defeated former World No. 3 Marin Cilic of Croatia, 7-6 (2) 6-1, in one hour and 32 minutes to advance to the second round.

Fery, who has a perfect 12-0 tour-level win-loss record after garnering the first set this season, converted three of six break-point opportunities and outpointed the 80th-ranked Cilic 70-53. Next, he will face No. 26 seed Karen Khachanov of Russia. 

• Another former Shanghai semifinalist, No. 75 Tomas Machac of Czechia, came from behind to defeat 166th-ranked Chinese wild card Zhang Zhizhen, 1-6, 7-6 (3), 6-2, to set up a second-round meeting against 19th seed Alexander Bublik of Kazakhstan. Machac snapped a five-match losing streak with his victory over Zhang.

• Japan’s Rei Sakamoto took care of Marco Trungelliti of Argentina, 6-3, 7-5, to earn his first main-draw win in Shanghai. The 20-year-old Japanese #NextGen rising star, who is ranked No. 137, moved into fifth place in the PIF ATP Live Race To Reggio Calabria with his first-round victory over the 90th-ranked Trungelliti. He will play No. 23 seed Andrey Rublev of Russia in the second round.

• Other first-round winners include: Arthur Gea of France, Quentin Halys of France, Yannick Hanfmann of Germany, Miomir Kecmanovic of Serbia, Adrian Mannarino of France, Alex Molcan of Slovakia, Roman Safiullin of Russia, and wild card Zhou Yi of China. 

By the numbers

Novak Djokovic of Serbia, who is a four-time Shanghai champion, is making his 12th Rolex Shanghai Masters appearance and arrives on a five-match winning streak after winning the China Open in Beijing on Tuesday for his 102nd tour-level title.

“Quotable …”

“First of all, I hope that more young people would love tennis. If they play tennis, I hope that they can enjoy playing tennis. I also hope that we can play good tennis, so they don’t feel bored as viewers.

“I want to also let them know that playing tennis is a passionate thing. To keep the interest is the most important thing, because that’s the basis for you to continue to push yourself forward.”

– Zhang Zhizhen of China, during his pre-tournament interview, on what kind of influence he hopes to bring to a younger generation of Chinese tennis fans.

 

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