Alexander Zverev will be the ATP world No. 1 on Monday 2 November. The German beat Tallon Griekspoor 6-4, 7-5 in the second round of the Erste Bank Open in Vienna on Thursday, and reaching the quarter-finals was all he needed to move above Jannik Sinner at the top of the rankings.

He will be the 30th member of the ATP No. 1 Club and the first German to hold the top spot since Boris Becker in 1991, the ATP said. Before the tournament it noted he would be the first new member since Sinner in June 2024.

To have the feeling to be on the top of the world is amazing.

Alexander Zverev, on becoming No. 1, as quoted by the ATP Tour in Vienna

A calm win after a scare on Tuesday

The match took 1 hour and 35 minutes. Zverev hit 11 aces and won 90 per cent of his first-serve points (35 of 39), the ATP reported, and he now leads Griekspoor 10-3 in their head-to-head. It was a far calmer outing than his opener, when he saved four match points against Martin Landaluce before winning 7-5, 3-6, 7-6(11) in 3 hours and 5 minutes. Zverev said afterwards that he had been pushed "to the absolute limit".

I think I played a very good match. And I am very happy about that.

Alexander Zverev, on beating Griekspoor, as quoted by the ATP Tour

The season record now reads 64-16, and this was his 13th quarter-final of the year, the most on the Tour, according to the ATP. Zverev went to Vienna as the top seed, aiming for a third title of the season. We covered the road to the top spot after his Shanghai run and in our Vienna draw preview.

Highlights via Tennis Tv

The season that made it possible

His two titles this year were both Grand Slams. Zverev won Roland-Garros on Sunday 7 June, beating Flavio Cobolli 6-1, 4-6, 6-4, 6-7(5), 6-1 in 4 hours and 16 minutes on Court Philippe-Chatrier, according to the Rolex Paris Masters site. It made him the first German man of the Open era to win the French Open, and it came after final defeats at the 2020 US Open, 2024 Roland-Garros and 2025 Australian Open.

He added the US Open on Sunday 13 September, beating Ben Shelton 6-3, 7-6(2), 5-7, 6-2 in New York, Al Jazeera reported. Speaking afterwards about his team and family, he said:

We went 30 years without winning a Grand Slam title, and then won two in the span of three months.

Alexander Zverev, after the US Open final, as reported by Al Jazeera

Fery is next

Zverev now meets Britain's Arthur Fery for a place in the semi-finals. Fery, 24, beat Lorenzo Musetti 6-4, 5-7, 6-4 in 2 hours and 44 minutes, saving seven of nine break points. The ranking itself will not change hands until the ATP list is published on Monday, but the result in Vienna has settled it.

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