Zverev Sets Up Djokovic in Beijing

Alexander Zverev beat Chinese wild card Shang Juncheng 6⁠–⁠0, 6⁠–⁠3 on Saturday, 3 October, in the second round of the China Open in Beijing. The win sets up a quarter-final against Novak Djokovic on Sunday, 4 October. At press time that quarter-final had not been completed (AFP; ATP Tour).

The China Open is an ATP 500, a men’s professional event a step below the Masters series, played this week in Beijing under a closed roof. A wild card is an invitation into the draw for a player who would not have got in on ranking alone. A set is first to six games, by a margin of two. Zverev, the top seed and the world No. 2, needed about 55 minutes. Shang, 21, is ranked 250th, with 220 points (AFP; ATP Tour; live-tennis.eu).

Zverev made it look short. He hit nine aces — untouched serves — and, on the tour’s own count, he lost only three of 28 points on his first serve. Shang had missed four months of the season with fitness problems and looked physically short of the match at times. He is a left-hander. The win moved Zverev to 48⁠–⁠1 against left-handers over his past 49 matches of that kind (ATP Tour). “Happy with the win,” Zverev said. He called the home player dangerous, and a man with nothing to lose (AFP).

The man waiting on Sunday is a different problem. Djokovic is 39, ranked No. 11, with 2,980 points, and he has not lost a match at this tournament. His record in Beijing is 31⁠–⁠0. He has won the title six times. Zverev has reached the Beijing quarter-finals for the sixth time; only Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and John Isner had done that as often (ATP Tour; live-tennis.eu). Their head-to-head, the running tally of matches between them, is 9⁠–⁠5 in Djokovic’s favour, nine wins from 14 meetings. The last one was at Roland Garros last year, and Djokovic won it in four sets (ATP Tour).

On Friday night Djokovic had to work to stay on that unbeaten Beijing list. He beat Chinese wild card Bu Yunchaokete in three sets, 4⁠–⁠6, 7⁠–⁠6(2), 6⁠–⁠2. That match is finished. The quarter-final against Zverev is the one that was still ahead when this page closed (ATP Tour).

“I’ve got a very difficult opponent tomorrow, but I’m looking forward to those challenges as well,” Zverev said on Saturday. “I’m excited about it. This is one of his favourite courts, he’s never lost here. Of course, I am going to do everything I can to make it a challenge, compete, and hopefully be successful” (ATP Tour). He also said he was looking forward to the next couple of weeks, with Sunday’s match first (AFP).

The larger prize he is talking about is the No. 1 ranking, which belongs to Jannik Sinner. Sinner has 11,000 points. Zverev has 9,630. Sinner won in Beijing last year and is not in the draw this time. On Saturday he said he would not play next week’s Shanghai Masters either (AFP; live-tennis.eu). Zverev’s own year is already the fullest of his career on the tour’s telling: he is 58⁠–⁠14 in 2026, he won his first two major titles at Roland Garros and the US Open, and he leads the live race that decides the eight men for the season-ending finals in Turin (ATP Tour).

“I think it’s no secret that it’s a goal, for sure,” he said when he was asked about finishing the year at No. 1. “I know what I’m playing for. I know I’m very, very motivated to play at the moment. But again, I have a tough challenge tomorrow, and that’s my focus” (AFP).

The rest of Saturday’s men’s order only framed that challenge. Third seed Daniil Medvedev beat Jan-Lennard Struff 6⁠–⁠4, 6⁠–⁠3 and was due to play Francisco Cerundolo. Alex de Minaur and Andrey Rublev each needed three sets to reach the last eight and were drawn against each other. Those were Saturday’s pairings, not Sunday’s results (AFP).

What a reader can take from Sunday morning is narrower than a finished quarter-final. Zverev spent less than an hour on a wild card ranked around 250th. Djokovic arrived with a perfect Beijing record and a lead in their personal series. At press time the match between them had not produced a result. Both were still listed in the Beijing quarter-final on the official ranking sheet, not in the semi-final.