David Goffin upends Zverev in Shanghai for first top 10 win in two years

Belgian David Goffin rolled back the years as he upended second seed Alexander Zverev 6-4, 7-5 to reach the last eight of the Shanghai Masters at the Qi Zhong Tennis Center on Wednesday.

Goffin, a former top 10 player now ranked No 66, will play American Taylor Fritz, the No 7 seed, next. It’s the first top 10 win for Goffin since October 22.

“I built the confidence from the beginning of the tournament,” Goffin said. “Match after match I was playing better and I came onto court, just tried to play my best tennis, stick to the plan and it worked. I’m really happy with that win.”

Goffin said he’d dug deep over the past few months, deciding to give everything in an attempt to get his ranking back up, having dropped outside the top 100 in 2023.

“Sometimes you have doubts about your fitness and your head, if you’re not 100 percent there mentally, it’s hard to compete but….I put a lot of hard work in the last few months and there is no secret. I’m really happy to be in a quarter-final of a Masters 1000 again.

“I wanted to show my daughter that I could be a good tennis player and so I’ll try for a few more years to do that. She’s three weeks old.”

Goffin holds off Zverev comeback

Goffin led by a set and a break but Zverev broke back and then, at 4-4 in the second set, recovered from 0-40, hitting a second serve ace to hold and then putting pressure on the Goffin serve.

But the Belgian held firm, holding for 5-5, breaking in the following game and then serving it out to set up a clash with Fritz.

The 33-year-old Belgian defeated Australian James Duckworth (6-4, 6-2), Italian Lorenzo Musetti, the No 15 seed (1-6, 7-6 (6), 6-2) and American Marcos Giron (1-6, 6-3, 7-5) in the previous rounds.

Earlier in the tournament, Zverev, ranked No 3, beat Italian qualifier Mattia Bellucci (6-4, 6-2) and edged out Dutchman Tallon Griekspoor (7-6 (6), 2-6, 7-6 (5)).

Shanghai Masters 1000, other last 16 results (Qi Zhong Tennis Center, hard, USD 8.995.555, most recent results first):

• Taylor Fritz beat Holger Rune (12): 6-1, 6-2
• Novak Djokovic (4) beat Roman Safiullin: 6-3, 6-2
• Jakub Mensik beat Grigor Dimitrov (9): 6-3, 3-6, 6-4
• Tomas Machac (30) beat Tommy Paul (11): 3-6, 6-4, 6-3
• Carlos Alcaraz (3) beat Gael Monfils: 6-4, 7-5
• Daniil Medvedev (5) beat Stefanos Tsitsipas (10): 7-6 (3), 6-3
• Jannik Sinner (1) beat Ben Shelton (14): 6-4, 7-6 (1)