ATP: Davidovich Fokina breaks through with Shanghai Masters triumph

Alejandro Davidovich Fokina continued the best season his career by sweeping to his first Masters 1000 victory in Shanghai. The 27-year old came through No. 1-in-waiting Alexander Zverev in a three-set semifinal and finished off the biggest title of his career by a fellow Spaniard seven years his junior, Rafael JOdar, in the final.

Davidovich Fokina was thrown into it early when he faced Top-10 American Frances Tafoe in the 3rd round. Tiafoe did not have his serve broken across 17 service games but Davidovich Fokina squeezed by in a pair of tiebreaks, saving a match point along the way.

After dropping his first 5 finals including the Masters 1000 in Monte Carlo four years ago, Davidovich Fokina is 3-0 in 2026. His ranking shot up to No. 13(+13, career-high).

As for Jodar, his epic rise from outside the Top 900 to the cusp of the Top 10 in less than two years continued with his first Masters 1000 final. On the way, he lost the 1st set to Jiri Lehecka, Botic van de Zandschulp and Casper Ruud before taking down Daniil Medvedev in a straight-self semifinal.  The 20-year-old is now 1-2 in finals, all this year. Jodar did not play the main draw of any Masters 1000 tournament before 2026. On the rankings front, Jodar was up a spot to No. 11(+1, equal career high). He also pushed himself into the mix for the ATP Finals. He currently sits 9th but with Jannik Sinner having shut down his season, that would be good enough to qualify for the field of 8.

The Rankings

No. 1

Jannik Sinner is the No. 1 player in the world. This is the 28th consecutive week and 94th overall that Sinner is ranked No. 1. He is not in danger of losing that spot this week but will fall behind Alexander Zverev by the end of the year.

Top 10

The Top 4 remained unchanged while Daniil Medvedev moved back to No. 5(+1) with a semifinal performance in Shanghai. It was a nice bounce back after being defaulted in Beijing when his errant smash hit a spectator. Behind Medvedev, Flavio Cobolli inched up to No. 6(+1, equal career high). Also inching up were Alex de Minaur to No. 8(+1), Frances Tiafoe to No. 9(+1), and Arthur Fils to No. 10(+1). Dropping were Felix Auger-Aliassime to No. 7 (-2) and Novak Djokovic to No. 12(-4). Fils rejoined the Top 10 after one week on the outside. Before that he debuted at No. 9, his only prior week in the Top 10. Djokovic fell out after a 1-week return. No. 12 matches a 7-year low,

Top 20

Davidovich Fokina announced his presence at No. 13(+23, career-high) after his win in Shanghai. He was last inside the Top 20 on July 20. Also re-entering this week was Alexander Bublik at No. 19(+3) after a one-week absence. Dropping out were Francisco Cerundolo to No. 21(-1, last out two weeks ago) and Valentin Vacherot to No. 32(-18, last out September 14).  Vacherot’s defense of Shanghai where he became one of the Masters 1000s least likely winners, was stalled in the 3rd Round by Tommy Paul.

Other Top 20 movement included move-ups for Jodar to No. 11(+3, equals career high), Paul to No. 15(+3), and Brandon Nakashima to No. 17(+3). On the way down were Djokovic to No. 12(-4), Taylor Fritz to No. 14(-2), Jakub Mensik to No. 16(-1), Learner Tien to No. 18(-1) and Jiri Lehecka to No. 20 (-4).

Teenagers

There are no teenagers ranked in the Top 100 this week. The highest-ranked teenager is Federico Cena, 19 from Italy at No. 135(+12, career-high). Cena qualified into Shanghai and lost in the 1st Round to Alex Molcan.  Rei Sakamoto qualified and reached the 3rd Round, losing to Alex de Minaur. Before de Minaur, he defeated Andrey Rublev. Sakamoto is now ranked No. 124(+13, career-high) but Monday is his 20th birthday..

Double Digit Risers and Newbies

Besides Davidovich Fokina, three players moved up 10 in more spots within the Top 100. Notable is Arthur Gea who shot up to to No. 44(+12, career-high). It was a good news/bad news week for Gea, 21, who upset Ben Shelton and Jakub Mensik to reach the quarterfinals in Shanghai but then had to retire to Davidovich Fokina. The up-arrow in the rankings marks the 5th consecutive time new rankings have come out and he has moved up.

Others moving up double digist this week include Mattia Bellucci to No. 68(+18). After qualifying to Shanghai and bowing out in the 1st round, he went to Jinan and won a Challenger.  And Damir Zhumhur is up to No. 83(+20) who won a Challenger in Italy. Rejoining this week were Coleman Wong and Jenson Brooksby Wong qualified to his home Masters 1000 and lost in the 1st Round to rejoin at No. 92(+9, equal career-high).  Brooksby rejoined at No. 99(+3). The American was Davidovich’s 2nd Round opponent in Shanghai. He was last inside the Top 100 on September 21.

Double-Digit Droppers and Happy Trails

Vacherot and two other players fell 10 or more sopts and remained in the Top 100. Arthur Rinderknech tumbled to No. 61(-20) and Corentin Moutet fell to No. 94.

Two players received exit papers this week. Michael Zheng dropped to No. 101(-7) and  Jesper de Jong dropped to No. 102(-7). Both had been in the Top 100 the last four weeks..

This Week and Beyond

There are 3 ATP 250 events this week, all on hard courts. In Almaty (Kazakhstan) Daniil Medvedev is the top seed and local favorite Alexander Bublik is seeded No. 3…In Lyon, Flavio Cobolli and Taylor Fritz are the top two seeds…The top two seeds in Brussels are Arthur Fils and Jiri Lehecka.