Novak Djokovic claimed one of his biggest wins of the year after defeating top seed Alexander Zverev at the Beijing Open.

The 39-year-old rolled back the years again, beating the US Open champion 4-6, 6-4, 6-4 in just over two-and-a-half hours to reach the semi-finals of the ATP 500 event on Sunday.

Djokovic extends his perfect record at the Chinese tournament to 32-0 as he inches closer to a record-extending seventh title. He now holds a 10-5 record against the 29-year-old, with eight of his victories coming on hard court.

The Serbian will have to go through the in-form Daniil Medvedev in the last four, but after ousting the French Open champion, who has been closing in on the No 1 ranking, Djokovic will fancy his chances.

For Zverev, this was a blow in his bid to become the world No 1 for the first time in his career. With Jannik Sinner still out with a knee injury, this was a chance to close the gap to the top spot.

More ATP Tour News

Want more from Tennis365? Add us as a preferred source on Google to your favourites list for tennis coverage you can trust.

Instead, Sinner’s stay as No 1 will continue a little longer. Even if Zverev wins the Shanghai Masters in the coming weeks, that still won’t be enough for him to topple the Italian in the ATP Tour rankings.

At present he is on 9,720 whereas Sinner is on 11,000 points. In the race, Zverev is 800 points ahead but this was a missed opportunity to get closer to that elusive No 1 spot.

Even if he does triumph in Shanghai, he will be just under 300 points behind Sinner. That means, Zverev’s hunt for No 1 could be decided at the ATP 500 events in Vienna or Basel, with Sinner scheduled to play in the former.

The Italian has around 3,000 points to defend between now and the end of the season so it seems Zverev will have a good chance at topping the pile. But this is undoubtedly a setback.

In regards to his efforts in Beijing, he pockets an extra 100 points and £84,597 in prize money.

Full 2026 breakdown

First round: 0 | $31,895

Second round: 50 | $59,805

Quarter-finalists: 100 | $112,035

Semi-finalists: 200 | $219,92

Finalist: 330 | $411,480

Champion: 500 | $764,750

READ NEXT: How Aryna Sabalenka’s shock China Open exit affects world No 1 battle with Elena Rybakina