Shanghai - 17/10

Good morning and welcome back to TIE-Breakfast: all the tennis you need with breakfast.

Ace Cream's daily newsletter during Masters 1000s and Grand Slams, brought forward to 6:00 every morning for this tournament.

Today is Saturday, October 17, and in Shanghai it is 12:00 and 27 degrees. Ok, here we go.

Today at Breakfast

• 🇪🇸 Jodar comes back against Ruud too and is the youngest semifinalist in Shanghai history
• 🇷🇺 Medvedev beats Paul in the third set and is back in the semifinals
• 🇩🇪 Today Zverev against Davidovich Fokina
• 🎾 Then Jodar against Medvedev, their first meeting

WHAT HAPPENED YESTERDAY:

🇪🇸 Jodar comes back against Ruud too and is the youngest semifinalist in Shanghai history

Rafael Jodar beat Casper Ruud 4-6, 6-4, 6-3 in two hours and 22 minutes. At 20 he is the youngest semifinalist in the tournament's history, and it is the fourth match in a row in Shanghai that he has won after losing the first set. In the first set he had wasted three break points in the ninth game; from the second set on he broke Ruud's serve five times.

The script now repeats itself with an almost suspicious regularity, as if Jodar needed a set to work out where to hurt his opponent. Against Ruud, who had given him very little with his forehand in the first set, the change came on return. The win takes him to ninth in the Race, ahead of Djokovic and de Minaur, and with Sinner out for the rest of the season through injury, ninth place is worth Turin today.

🇷🇺 Medvedev beats Paul in the third set and is back in the semifinals

Daniil Medvedev beat Tommy Paul 6-3, 1-6, 6-3 in just over two hours, with 16 aces. In the first set he saved seven break points in a single service game that lasted twelve minutes. It is his 70th semifinal on tour and his second in a row in Shanghai, where he won the title in 2019.

The match was less tidy than the one against Tsitsipas. After the match Medvedev admitted: "I think today I was a tiny bit off from time to time, but the third set was great." After losing the second set 6-1, he went a break up straight away in the third, with Paul starting to miss one shot after another. Medvedev climbs to sixth in the Race, and against Jodar he will face a player who has lost the first set in each of his last four matches in Shanghai. It remains to be seen whether that script holds up against someone who gives away so little from the baseline.

WHAT'S HAPPENING TODAY:

• Zverev vs Davidovich Fokina - Not before 10:30 Italian time. Alexander Zverev, the No. 1 seed, has won six of their seven previous meetings; Alejandro Davidovich Fokina comes off a quarterfinal that lasted five games because of Gea's retirement. With Jodar in the other semifinal, Shanghai has two Spaniards in the last four for the first time since 2011, the year of Ferrer and Feliciano López.
• Jodar vs Medvedev - Not before 13:00 Italian time. It is their first meeting. Jodar is chasing his first Masters 1000 final, Medvedev his second in Shanghai after the one he won in 2019, and the winner will face either Zverev or Davidovich Fokina tomorrow.

Read More

• ATP Shanghai: a super Jodar reaches the semifinals and speeds toward Turin
• ATP Shanghai: Medvedev wears Paul down. He will face Jodar in the semifinals
• ATP Shanghai: Medvedev puts Paul in the net and joins Jodar
• Shanghai Masters 1000 2026: Medvedev beats Paul, now closes in on Cobolli in the Race

Enjoy your breakfast and have a great day.

See you tomorrow at 06:00 with TIE-Breakfast.