Alexander Zverev is guaranteed to finish 2026 as the year-end world No. 1. The ranking was secured on Monday, when Carlos Alcaraz lost to Zizou Bergs in Shanghai, not by Zverev's own result the following day.
His first match with that guarantee in place came on Tuesday against Kazakhstan's Alexander Bublik in the round of 16 of the Rolex Shanghai Masters.
Four set points saved, then a stumble
Zverev saved four set points in the opening-set tie-break and took it 8-6. Bublik broke serve in the fifth game of the second set and levelled the match at 6-4. Zverev admitted afterwards that his level had dropped.
In the final tie-break he moved ahead 6-1 and closed the match with an ace, winning 7-6, 4-6, 7-6 in two hours and 41 minutes. The German later said his ankle had been acting up and that the contest had been really difficult. Sky Sports noted he never looked fully comfortable.
A two-Slam season, capped by No. 1
The result moved Zverev into his 40th ATP Masters 1000 quarter-final, and his first in Shanghai since 2019. He meets Alex de Minaur next. This season he has won the French Open and the US Open, and reached the Wimbledon final.
Tim Henman called Zverev's transformation over twelve months phenomenal. "He was a service game away from being in all four Slam finals," Henman said of the 29-year-old, who struggled through a rough 2025.
Zverev described finishing the year at No. 1 as a different kind of responsibility. He praised Bublik for playing what he called amazing tennis that week.
