Alexander Zverev lost in a three set battle to Alejandro Davidovich Fokina in the semi-finals of Shanghai.
Despite a resilient week for Zverev, there will be no title for the German as he lost 5-7 6-4 6-3 to the Spaniard.
It was a decent start to the match for Zverev but Davidovich Fokina played some incredible tennis to turn the match around.
After the contest Zverev praised Davidovich Fokina’s level, “I knew that he is serving there, but the return is the most difficult shot when you’re a bit fatigued because the first thing that gets tired in tennis I think is your eyes,” Zverev told the ATP website.
“I knew that the serve was going there, I was with it on the racquet most of the time, but I was missing it, I was not returning inside the court. So, again, credit to him, he played the way he was supposed to play. He played a pretty good match, I thought.”
There was some good results for Zverev this week who survived a last set tiebreak earlier in the tournament in China.
However, Zverev came up short when it mattered most as he will not be adding to his Masters 1000 collection.
After the contest Zverev said that he is not a robot after feeling fatigue over the week, “First, I’m not a robot, I’m a human being, I get tired,” Zverev explained.
“After the US Open, I had one day off in total. I think I played a lot of tennis, which is very, very positive because that means I played well. I think even here I had tough matches. I personally feel like I was quite flat since the Bublik match, because I was losing energy. I played a phenomenal match against Alex de Minaur, but today I was flat. Even in the first set, even though I won the set, I was flatter, I was not reacting so well. I was returning quite badly.
“We’re all human beings, even the best players in the world.”
Despite the defeat Zverev has ensured this week that he will end the season as the world number one and could achieve the ranking as early as the first week of November.
The German felt like he overachieved this week, “I feel like I’ve actually, in a way, maybe overachieved this week because of how much tennis I played,” Zverev analysed.
“I carried a little bit of injury, I carried fatigue into the tournament, and I’m okay to lose to a player like this today.”
Zverev will aim to bounce back from his defeat when he headlines the ATP 500 event in Vienna.
Meanwhile Davidovich Fokina will take on Rafael Jodar in an all-Spanish final in Shanghai.
