Zverev, Medvedev ousted with Spanish duo to clash for Shanghai title

Rising star Rafael Jodar beat Daniil Medvedev in straight sets on Saturday to reach the Shanghai Masters final, where he will face Alejandro Davidovich Fokina in an all-Spanish showdown. 

The 20-year-old Jodar beat Medvedev, a decade his senior, 6-3, 6-4 to deny the Russian former world number one a chance to return to the final match of the tournament he won in 2019. 

Jodar, now ranked 13th as he continues to impress this year, started the season ranked 168th and now reaches his first-ever ATP Masters 1000 level final. 

"It was very fun," Jodar said after the game, though he added that beating Medvedev was "tough".

"All the games were very close," Jodar added.

"Super happy with how I handled the important moments," he said, adding that he showed his "best level".

The two players set the tone for a thriller as they pushed the first game to 13 minutes, with Jodar valiantly holding serve.

They traded breaks and battled through gruelling rallies on a humid evening that saw 30-year-old Medvedev leaning on his racquet and hunched over.

"It was not easy, I was a bit tired but that's part of the game," the Russian said. "I think he was tired as well but he managed to do it better than me."

"He was better on the return than I was," Medvedev said, calling Jodar a "great player".

"He's top 10. It's not like he's 60 in the world and we're starting to talk about it," Medvedev said.

"We never know who wins 25 Grand Slams, six, one, two. Let's see."

Medvedev, the 2021 US Open champion, saved four set points but Jodar regrouped to win the first set when the Russian returned long.

Jodar needed a medical timeout before the second set but returned to the court and played excellent tennis, racing to a 2-0 lead.

He broke to go up 4-3 when Medvedev double-faulted, and the Russian tumbled to the ground as he tried to save a match point.

Medvedev clung on for one more game but Jodar dropped no more points and sent down a decisive forehand to clinch victory.

In the earlier semi-final, 26th-ranked Davidovich Fokina fought back to stun wilting top seed Alexander Zverev 5-7, 6-4, 6-3.

The 27-year-old Davidovich Fokina combined grit, lightning-fast returns and graceful drop shots to stun the German, who will end the year as the world number one.

"I was a little bit nervous," Davidovich Fokina said of his shaky start.

"But I keep going, I keep fighting, every ball," he said.

The Spaniard extended his winning streak in China to nine matches, after claiming an ATP 250 title in Chengdu.

Zverev, the French and US Open champion, said fatigue had caught up with him.

"I think a break is quite necessary now," the 29-year-old told reporters, saying he would monitor his fitness ahead of a tournament in Vienna that begins on October 24.

"I carried a little bit of injury, I carried fatigue into the tournament, and I'm okay to lose to a player like this today," said Zverev, who experienced ankle pain in Shanghai.