Alexander Zverev claimed his opening match at the Shanghai Masters against Chinese home favourite Wu Yibing 6-4, 7-6. The German, entering the tournament as the world No. 2 and top seed, leaned on the strength of his serve throughout, stayed focused after a painful fall in the second set, and advanced to the round of 32.
Zverev controlled the first set
Zverev came out firing against the wildcard recipient. He earned the first break in the third game and from there dictated rallies with his serve, keeping Wu Yibing pinned to the baseline. The Chinese player went searching for winners through baseline exchanges, but Zverev gave him virtually nothing to work with on his own service games.
The Hamburg native closed out the set comfortably, taking it 6-4. His first-serve reliability was the cornerstone of that control. Wu Yibing had the backing of the Shanghai crowd, but was never able to claw back the early deficit.
A hard-fought second set — and a critical moment
Zverev made another bright start in the second set, breaking serve early, only for Wu Yibing to respond immediately and level in the fourth game. What followed was an evenly matched affair in which both players held serve and traded long baseline rallies.
At 5-5, play was briefly halted when Zverev went down on a break point against him. Reaching for a ball, he lost his footing and twisted his left ankle. The German was visibly in pain, but waved off a medical timeout and got back to his feet under his own steam.
Despite the knock, Zverev pushed on. He forced a tiebreak and kept his composure when it mattered most, winning it 7-4 to take the second set 7-6.
Serve as the decisive weapon
The match statistics underlined Zverev's dominance on serve. He held serve in 91 per cent of his service games and won 78 per cent of points behind his delivery overall, converting 81 per cent of first-serve points. Wu Yibing, for his part, held 82 per cent of his own service games, but was ultimately unable to neutralise Zverev's backhand and serve pressure on a consistent basis.
After the match, Zverev pointed to his serve as the decisive factor. He acknowledged that Wu Yibing generates enormous power across the rest of his game, which made it essential to control the shorter exchanges and hand him as few return opportunities as possible.
The significance of the win
For Zverev, this was his second win in as many meetings with Wu Yibing, and also his 30th hard-court victory of the season. The result was entirely in keeping with his status in Shanghai: the world No. 2 arrived as top seed with every opportunity to strengthen his position in the race for the year-end world ranking.
Wu Yibing bowed out having put in a spirited performance in front of his home crowd. Zverev met the challenge head-on, shook off the fall without a medical timeout, and wrapped up the match in straight sets.
