No. 12 seed Rafael Jodar and No. 25 Alejandro Davidovich Fokina will meet in Sunday’s all-Spanish final at the Rolex Shanghai Masters.
The 20-year-old Jodar reached his first career ATP Masters 1000 final with a 6-3, 6-4 victory against No. 5 Daniil Medvedev of Russia. The 27-year-old Davidovich Fokina advanced to his second by rallying for a 5-7, 6-4, 6-3 upset of No. 1 Alexander Zverev of Germany in Saturday’s semifinals.
After rallying from a set down in each of his first four matches this week, Jodar needed only 1 hour and 44 minutes to set up the ninth all-Spanish Masters 1000 title in ATP Tour history.
Jodar’s 22 winners were eight more than Medvedev, the 2019 champion.
“It was a very tough match,” Jodar said in his on-court interview. “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. Daniil is a very tough player. He played great today, so I had to play my best level to play him.”
Jodar saved four of six break points and converted four of his seven break chances to become the second-youngest man to record 20 Masters 1000 wins in a season. Countryman Rafael Nadal had 28 at age 19 in 2005.
Jodar, who won his maiden title at Marrakech earlier this year, is the first man born in 2006 or later to reach a Masters 1000 final.
Davidovich Fokina collected the only service break of the second set in the final game to level the match. He jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the final set and finished the upset on his third match point after 2 hours and 2 minutes.
It was his sixth career top-5 win and his first in 2026.
“It doesn’t matter the result, I am just thinking about every ball,” Davidovich Fokina said in his on-court interview. “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. Then in the third set, I think I was better physically. The early break in the third set gave me a lot of power. I focused on just playing, not mattering about the result but enjoying.”
Zverev, who is guaranteed to finish the year with the world’s No. 1 ranking, struck 18 aces but Davidovich Fokina posted a 36-28 advantage in winners.
–Field Level Media
