ATP Tour

Zverev continues charge towards No. 1 with latest win in Beijing, Shang earns big victory

Alexander Zverev maintained his impressive recent form and continued his quest to become World No. 1 on Thursday at the China Open in Beijing, where he moved past British lefty Cameron Norrie 7-6(1), 6-4.

The German captured his second major of the season last month at the US Open and built on that victory in his first match at the ATP 500 event in Beijing, raising his level in the first-set tie-break to maintain his perfect record against Norrie. Zverev holds a 9-0 advantage in the pair’s Lexus ATP Head2Head series.

"I am surprised because I didn't think I played well because I only arrived two days ago," said Zverev, who competed for Team Europe in London at the Laver Cup last week. "I feel a bit jet-lagged and came from an indoor tournament to an outdoor tournament, but I felt good on the court and I felt it was a high-level match."

Zverev has now won 47 of his past 48 matches against left handers and also leads the Tour with the most hard-court wins in 2026 (28), surpassing Daniil Medvedev, who is second on 27.

Zverev is aiming to finish the year as the No. 1 player in the PIF ATP Rankings and has the opportunity to make up ground on World No. 1 Jannik Sinner in Beijing. The 2025 champion Sinner is not competing this week, so he will drop his 500 points, while Zverev only reached the quarter-finals last year in the Chinese capital and therefore only has 100 points to defend.

Zverev could become World No. 1 as early as after the Rolex Shanghai Masters. Should the three-time semi-finalist win Beijing for the first time and follow that with a title run at the ATP Masters 1000 event, Zverev would need Sinner to fall before the fourth round in Shanghai for the top spot to change hands.

The top seed in Beijing will next face Chinese favourite Shang Juncheng after the lefty battled past Argentine Sebastian Baez 5-7, 6-3, 7-5

It is the first time Shang has won a match at the ATP 500 event, having lost in the first round on three previous occasions. The Chinese star has suffered from a number of injury issues in recent years and recently spoke to ATPTour.com about his comeback, his origins in the sport and much more. You can read that feature here.

Shang's career highlight came in Chengdu in 2024, when he became the first Chinese man to win an ATP Tour title on home soil.