The semi-finals of the 2026 Shanghai Masters concluded on Saturday, with Alejandro Davidovich Fokina and Rafael Jodar both defeating higher-ranked opponents to set up an all-Spanish final.
Davidovich Fokina mounted an impressive comeback against top seed Alexander Zverev, recovering from a set down to reach his second Masters 1000 final and extend his China winning streak to nine matches.
Elsewhere, Jodar ended Daniil Medvedev’s hopes of a second Shanghai title with a straight-sets victory, becoming the youngest finalist in tournament history and moving closer to a place at the ATP Finals.
Sunday’s championship match will be the first all-Spanish Masters 1000 final since 2017 and the first on hard courts, with both players chasing their maiden title at this level.
See the full Day Eleven results and semi-final recaps below.
Day Eleven Shanghai Masters Semi-Final Results
Semi-Final Recap
Alejandro Davidovich Fokina Def. Alexander Zverev 5-7, 6-4, 6-3
Alejandro Davidovich Fokina produced one of the biggest wins of his career on Saturday, coming from a set down to defeat top seed Alexander Zverev and reach the Shanghai Masters final.
The Spaniard lost a tight opening set 7-5 but stuck to his swashbuckling, aggressive game plan, eventually turning the match around to win 5-7, 6-4, 6-3 in two hours and six minutes.
Zverev looked very sharp against Alex de Minaur in the quarter-finals, but he wasn’t quite at the same level here, particularly on return.
Davidovich Fokina also served extremely well, landing 82% of his first serves, and Sascha didn’t seem to pick up the wide serve to his forehand.
Foki also wasn’t afraid to take the initiative from the baseline, hitting aggressively off both wings and using his movement to turn defence into attack.
The Spaniard levelled the match with a sweet running backhand passing shot to take the second set 6-4, before capitalising on a Zverev double fault to secure an early break in the decider.
From there, he looked physically stronger and kept dictating play.
Davidovich Fokina had two match points on Zverev’s serve at 5-2 but couldn’t convert either, and he’s the type of player who could have ended up in a deciding tiebreak. However, he held his nerve in the next game to close out the win.
It doesn’t matter the result, I am just thinking about every ball. I knew that if I stayed there all match, I could get at least one chance and I took it there in the second set.
The 27-year-old will contest his second Masters 1000 final, having lost to Stefanos Tsitsipas in Monte-Carlo back in 2022.
For Zverev, it was a disappointing finish after his excellent performance against De Minaur, although the German felt fatigue had finally caught up with him.
I feel like I’ve actually, in a way, maybe overachieved this week because of how much tennis I played.
Zverev revealed that he’d had just one day off since the US Open, having played the Laver Cup, Beijing and Shanghai in quick succession.
He also admitted that he had struggled with his return throughout the match, particularly against Davidovich Fokina’s wide serve.
I knew that he is serving there, but the return is the most difficult shot when you’re a bit fatigued because the first thing that gets tired in tennis I think is your eyes.
Zverev leaves Shanghai with his first year-end No. 1 ranking, while Davidovich Fokina will face Rafael Jodar in Sunday’s final.
Match Stats
Highlights
Rafael Jodar Def. Daniil Medvedev 6-3, 6-4
Rafael Jodar collected a rare straight-sets victory over Daniil Medvedev to reach his first Masters 1000 final, setting up an all-Spanish showdown with Alejandro Davidovich Fokina.
After coming back from a set down in his previous four matches, the 20-year-old finally got the job done in two, defeating the 2019 Shanghai champion 6-3, 6-4 in 1 hour and 44 minutes.
The opening set was much closer than the score suggests, with Jodar needing 13 minutes to hold serve in the first game.
He then broke Medvedev to lead 3-1, only to surrender the advantage immediately before breaking again to take a 4-2 lead.
Jodar had to save another break point when serving at 5-2 and eventually needed five set points to close out the opener.
Medvedev wasn’t playing particularly badly, but he’s not quite as solid as he was at his peak, and Jodar did an excellent job moving him around the court and taking the initiative on shorter balls.
The Spaniard finished with 22 winners to Medvedev’s 14, and his ability to be a bit more aggressive, especially on return, was key.
The second set followed a similar pattern. Jodar broke immediately but couldn’t consolidate, allowing Medvedev to level at 2-2.
However, he regained the advantage with another break to take a 4-3 lead and held his nerve to serve for the match at 5-4.
Medvedev saved three match points in the previous game, but Jodar wasn’t troubled on his own serve, closing out the win to love.
Typical Medvedev drama also surfaced in the opening set, which doesn’t really seem to work well for him, as most of his outbursts are followed by a defeat.
At 4-2, deuce, on Jodar’s serve, the Russian disputed a line call after believing the Spaniard’s forehand had landed wide.
The automated system called it in, but Medvedev insisted on seeing a replay of that shot, rather than his own subsequent forehand, which went long.
Umpire Adel Nour initially explained that the protocol allowed review only of the final shot in the rally, prompting Medvedev to threaten to retire if he wasn’t shown the replay.
I’m not moving; I can retire, I don’t care. The ATP gives me a fine anyway. I will retire; show me the ball.
Eventually, the umpire agreed to show the replay, which confirmed that Jodar’s shot had landed in.
It was a ridiculous, pointless episode, since Medvedev was wrong about the call and it did little to help his concentration.
Jodar, meanwhile, tends to save his outbursts for the ball kids, as he stayed composed and kept playing excellent tennis.
He’s also recorded 20 Masters 1000 match wins this season, making him the second-youngest player to do so, after Rafael Nadal in 2005.
Jodar started the year ranked No. 168 but is now set to climb to a career-high No. 11, with a top-10 finish possible if he wins Sunday’s final.
His ATP Finals qualification prospects have also improved considerably. He’s ninth in the live Race to Turin, effectively occupying the final qualification spot with Jannik Sinner out for the remainder of the season.
It was a very tough match. In the first set all the games were very close, break points for him and break points for me. I am super happy with how I handled the important moments in the first set and how I served and returned.
Jodar will now face Davidovich Fokina in the first all-Spanish Masters 1000 final since Monte-Carlo in 2017, and the first ever played on hard courts.
Given how both players have performed this week, it should be an interesting final, with Jodar looking for his second ATP title and Davidovich Fokina chasing his first Masters 1000 trophy.
Match Stats
Highlights
Shanghai Masters Day 12 Final
- (25) Alejandro Davidovich Fokina v (12) Rafael Jodar
