{"id":804303,"date":"2026-10-16T08:54:27","date_gmt":"2026-10-16T08:54:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/804303\/"},"modified":"2026-10-16T08:54:27","modified_gmt":"2026-10-16T08:54:27","slug":"zverev-dispatches-de-minaur-to-reach-shanghai-semis-davidovich-fokina-awaits","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/804303\/","title":{"rendered":"Zverev dispatches De Minaur to reach Shanghai semis, Davidovich Fokina awaits"},"content":{"rendered":"<p data-testid=\"wcl-news-perex\" itemprop=\"description\">Top seed Alexander Zverev took &#8216;a huge step up&#8217; to dismantle Alex de Minaur 6-4, 6-4 on Thursday and roll into the Shanghai Masters semi-finals.<\/p>\n<p>He will play <a href=\"https:\/\/www.flashscore.com\/player\/davidovich-fokina-alejandro\/0zQXLfz4\/\" data-analytics-element=\"ARTICLE_TEXT_LINK\" data-analytics-alias=\"internal\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Alejandro Davidovich Fokina<\/a>, who advanced when France&#8217;s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.flashscore.com\/player\/gea-arthur\/M5Nr6FTR\/\" data-analytics-element=\"ARTICLE_TEXT_LINK\" data-analytics-alias=\"internal\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Arthur Gea<\/a> retired injured from their quarter-final after 22 minutes.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.flashscore.com\/player\/zverev-alexander\/dGbUhw9m\/\" data-analytics-element=\"ARTICLE_TEXT_LINK\" data-analytics-alias=\"internal\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Zverev<\/a>, who will end the year at world number one, was tested by the Australian&#8217;s speed in the first set but sent down a string of dazzling forehands to convert a break point in the fifth game.<\/p>\n<p>Despite a double-fault the German saved three break points in a row to hold serve and was rewarded in the 10th game, taking the first set with a buttery backhand at the net.<\/p>\n<p><img crossorigin=\"anonymous\" class=\"wcl-image_vG4MA\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" fetchpriority=\"auto\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/04b97852-ab38-4870-b8c8-7aaddc0d90ad.jpg\" alt=\"Key match stats\" title=\"Key match stats\" itemprop=\"image\"\/>Key match statsFlashscore<\/p>\n<p>Zverev refused to relent in the second set, setting up another break point in the seventh game to go up 4-3 when <a href=\"https:\/\/www.flashscore.com\/player\/de-minaur-alex\/EZgZ9Xfh\/\" data-analytics-element=\"ARTICLE_TEXT_LINK\" data-analytics-alias=\"internal\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">De Minaur<\/a> served into the net.<\/p>\n<p>The 27-year-old Australian clung on for a bit longer but Zverev wasn&#8217;t sticking around, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.flashscore.com\/match\/tennis\/de-minaur-a-EZgZ9Xfh\/zverev-a-dGbUhw9m\/?mid=ERN0r0Qp\" data-analytics-element=\"ARTICLE_TEXT_LINK\" data-analytics-alias=\"internal\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">clinching victory on the first match point<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Good match for me,&#8221; Zverev, 29, said.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Very satisfied with my level&#8230; it was a huge step up from the last couple matches.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Zverev needed three sets to win his two previous matches.<\/p>\n<p>France&#8217;s Gea was in the biggest match of his career when he <a href=\"https:\/\/www.flashscore.com\/match\/tennis\/davidovich-fokina-a-0zQXLfz4\/gea-a-M5Nr6FTR\/?mid=4OnnYRxJ\" data-analytics-element=\"ARTICLE_TEXT_LINK\" data-analytics-alias=\"internal\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">quit his quarter-final<\/a> with muscle issues.<\/p>\n<p>The 21-year-old took a medical timeout for work on his lower right side when he was down 1-4 in the first set.<\/p>\n<p>He returned to play but ended the match minutes later.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I felt this morning, during a warm-up, pain in the psoas,&#8221; he said, referring to a muscle in the lower back.<\/p>\n<p>He said he received &#8220;treatments&#8221; and decided to step on court despite being unsure about his fitness.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I tried from the beginning, but it was not enough to play full and too dangerous for the end of the season.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I&#8217;m really sad, but it&#8217;s the best choice I could do,&#8221; said 56th-ranked Gea, who was playing in his first tournament at the prestigious ATP 1000 level.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Top seed Alexander Zverev took &#8216;a huge step up&#8217; to dismantle Alex de Minaur 6-4, 6-4 on Thursday&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":804304,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[38],"tags":[101,118,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-804303","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tennis","tag-sports","tag-tennis","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/804303","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=804303"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/804303\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/804304"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=804303"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=804303"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=804303"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}