Alexander Zverev beat Alex de Minaur 6-4, 6-4 in the Shanghai Masters quarter-finals on Thursday. The win keeps him on course for the one milestone missing from his career, the world No. 1 spot in the weekly ATP rankings. It will not arrive on Monday. The earliest date is 2 November.

How Zverev beat De Minaur

The top seed needed 78 minutes to beat the world No. 9. He hit 10 aces, saved all five break points he faced and finished with 24 winners to De Minaur's 17. The decisive break of the first set came at 2-2, with a forehand winner, and he held from there.

It is his third Shanghai semi-final and his first since 2019. His season record is now 62-14, and he leads De Minaur 9-4 in their head-to-head. The result also answers the last meeting. On 26 September, De Minaur beat him 2-6, 7-6(5), 11-9 at the Laver Cup after saving a match point.

Zverev said the performance was an improvement on the previous two rounds, when he needed three sets to beat Quentin Halys and then Alexander Bublik.

I think it was a huge step up.

Alexander Zverev, after the match, via the Shanghai Masters' official report

He now plays 25th seed Alejandro Davidovich Fokina in Saturday's semi-final. The Spaniard reached the last four when Arthur Gea retired while trailing 4-1 in the first set.

Year-end No. 1 versus weekly No. 1

Two different rankings are in play, and they are easy to confuse. Zverev clinched the ATP year-end No. 1 on 12 October, after Carlos Alcaraz lost to Zizou Bergs in Shanghai. He is the first German man to finish a season on top. At 29 years and 217 days on the date of the final rankings, 23 November, he will be the oldest player to do it for the first time, three days older than Andre Agassi in 1999.

The weekly No. 1 is a separate matter. Jannik Sinner still holds it. He leads the official rankings with 11,000 points, but he has not played since the Wimbledon final in July and has ruled himself out for the rest of the season with a right knee injury, so he cannot defend his Vienna, Paris and ATP Finals titles. Zverev has 10,070 points in the ATP live rankings after reaching the semi-finals, up from 9,720 before Shanghai. We covered Sinner's withdrawal from Shanghai and the race it left open.

What Zverev needs to reach No. 1

According to the ATP, there are two routes to the top, and both lead to 2 November:

  • Win the Shanghai Masters, then reach the semi-finals of the Vienna ATP 500.
  • Reach the Shanghai final, then win the Vienna title.

Vienna's main draw runs from 26 October to 1 November, and Zverev is entered. If he gets there, he becomes only the second German to hold the No. 1 ranking, after Boris Becker in 1991, and the 30th player in the history of the rankings to reach it.

The ankle question

Zverev has been dealing with a physical issue in Shanghai. After beating Bublik in the round of 16 on 13 October, he said his ankle was "acting up unfortunately again." Nothing changes his secured year-end No. 1. Whether the ankle affects the timing of his weekly rise is an open question.

This article will be updated after Saturday's semi-final.