Davidovich Fokina Beats Jodar to Win Shanghai Masters
The 27-year-old Spaniard comes back from a set and a break down for his first Masters title and rises to a career-high 13th
Alejandro Davidovich Fokina won the all-Spanish Shanghai Masters final, recovering from a lost first set and a break down in the second to beat Rafael Jodar 1–6, 7–6 (7–5), 6–4.
The match on October 18 lasted 2 hours 28 minutes. It was Davidovich Fokina's first Masters title and the third tour title of his career.
Jodar, 20 and the 12th seed, won the first set without facing a break point and led 3–2 with a break in the second. Davidovich Fokina broke straight back, saved five break points over his next three service games and won the tiebreak. He broke again in the fifth game of the third set and kept control from there.
Davidovich Fokina, the 25th seed, lost the first five tour-level finals of his career and has won his last three. He rises 13 places to a career-high 13th in the rankings published October 19. Jodar rises two places to 11th, equaling his career high, and is ninth in the race for the ATP Finals in Turin.
Alejandro Davidovich Fokina of Spain beat his countryman Rafael Jodar 1–6, 7–6 (7–5), 6–4 in the Shanghai Masters final, coming back from a set and a break down to win his first Masters title.
The final, the first meeting between the two, was played on October 18 at Qizhong Forest Sports City Arena and lasted 2 hours 28 minutes. It was the ninth all-Spanish Masters final and the first since Rafael Nadal beat Albert Ramos-Vinolas in Monte Carlo in 2017.
Jodar, 20 and the 12th seed, broke serve in the second game, broke again for 5–1 with a backhand winner and won the first set without facing a break point. He won all seven points in that set that lasted longer than nine shots. He broke again for 3–2 in the second set. Davidovich Fokina broke straight back, converting his second break point of the next game after sprinting to the net, and finished the point lying on the court. He then saved a break point at 4–3, two at 5–4 and two at 6–5, and won the tiebreak 7–5. The two traded breaks at the start of the third set. Davidovich Fokina broke again in the fifth game and kept control from there.
"I don't have any words right now," Davidovich Fokina said. "I have a blank mind. I don't know what to say and I don't know how I feel. Just a huge relief. After the first set I had to keep trying, keep pushing, like every match in the tournament. In the tie-break, I believed in myself again and tried to play the ball. He was playing huge tennis.
"In the third set, maybe I had a bit more fitness physically. He's an amazing player and it was very tough to play against him today."
The 27-year-old was close to losing several times during the week. He saved a match point against Frances Tiafoe in the third round and came from a set down to beat Hubert Hurkacz and, in the semifinals, the top seed, Alexander Zverev, 5–7, 6–4, 6–3. Jodar beat Daniil Medvedev 6–3, 6–4 in the other semifinal to become the youngest finalist in the tournament's history and the first man born in 2006 or later to reach a Masters final.
Davidovich Fokina lost the first five tour-level finals of his career, including his only previous Masters final, in Monte Carlo in 2022. He has now won his last three, after titles in Mallorca and Chengdu this season. He missed two months with a back injury before returning in Chengdu in late September, and he has won 10 straight matches in China.
"This year was a tough one," he said of his team's support. "Not only two months out, I also skipped a couple more tournaments this year with [other] injuries." He said Arthur Fils, a friend who also missed a lot of tournaments this year, had shown him the way back: "He came back stronger, winning matches. So that gave me a lot of power, that if he could do it, I could do it too."
He rises 13 places to a career-high 13th in the rankings published October 19. A title would have put Jodar in the top 10 for the first time. Instead he rises two places to 11th, equaling his career high, and leaves China ninth in the race for the ATP Finals in Turin, just inside the qualifying places.