Rafael Jódar Camacho has reached the final of a Masters 1000 event for the first time in his career. The 20-year-old defeated Daniil Medvedev 6–3, 6–4 in the Shanghai Masters semifinal, impressing throughout with controlled baseline play, high-intensity returning and remarkable composure at the crucial moments. The match lasted 1 hour and 44 minutes.
Jódar pulls clear in the opening set
The very first game lasted around 13 minutes. Jódar eventually held without offering Medvedev a single break point, then immediately converted a break to lead 3–1. Medvedev hit back straight away, but Jódar quickly found his rhythm again and broke for a second time to make it 4–2.
Medvedev pulled one back but was unable to sustain the pressure. Serving for the set at 5–2, Jódar had to save a break point before staying patient and converting his fifth set point. The opening set went to Rafael Jódar Camacho 6–3.
Medvedev saves three match points
Jódar took a medical timeout before the second set, then returned in excellent shape and raced into a 2–0 lead. Medvedev levelled, but Jódar cranked up the pressure on return once more. At 3–4 down, a double fault from Medvedev opened the door and Jódar broke through it.
Jódar then served for the match. At 5–3, Medvedev saved three match points to extend the contest. The Spaniard was unfazed. He held his nerve on his own serve and closed out the set to love, taking the second set 6–4 and the match with it.
Dominant in the big moments
The match statistics reflected Jódar's superiority in the key areas. He won 54 percent of all points and held serve in 80 percent of his service games, while Medvedev won only 56 percent of his own. Jódar was particularly devastating on second-serve returns, winning 59 percent of those points.
He was also highly effective at the net, winning 83 percent of his net approaches, and he fired six aces. Medvedev hit three aces but committed four double faults, while Jódar's two double faults were manageable within an otherwise tidy overall error count that allowed him to keep control of the match.
On break points, Jódar was the more clinical of the two. He converted 57 percent of his opportunities, compared to just 33 percent for Medvedev. The Spaniard also won 44 percent of his return games, consistently threatening the serve of the former world number one.
A landmark moment for Jódar
It was the first straight-sets win of Jódar's week in Shanghai. In each of his four previous matches, he had been forced to come from behind after dropping the opening set. Against Medvedev, by contrast, he established a clear game plan from the very first game and never deviated from it.
The victory also represented his first appearance in a Masters 1000 final. Jódar became the first player born in 2006 to achieve that milestone and the youngest finalist in the history of the Shanghai Masters. His rise has been nothing short of meteoric: he began the season ranked 168th in the world and, following his run to the final, was projected to sit 11th in the ATP Live Rankings.
The semifinal was the first meeting between Rafael Jódar Camacho and Daniil Medvedev on the ATP Tour. The young Spaniard won it with a dominant display in the decisive phases, further underlining his remarkable progress during the 2026 season — a campaign in which he had already claimed his first ATP title in Marrakech.
