Shanghai - 19/10

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 Monday, October 19, and in Shanghai it is 12:00 and 25 degrees. Ok, here we go.

Today at Breakfast

• 🇪🇸 Davidovich Fokina comes back against Jodar and wins his first Masters 1000 in Shanghai
• 🇦🇹 Miedler and Oberleitner, the first Austrian pair to win a 1000 in doubles
• 📈 The new rankings: Davidovich climbs to No. 13
• 🇪🇸 Jodar is ninth in the Race to Turin

WHAT HAPPENED YESTERDAY:

🇪🇸 Davidovich Fokina comes back against Jodar and wins his first Masters 1000 in Shanghai

Alejandro Davidovich Fokina beat Rafael Jodar 1-6, 7-6(5), 6-4 to win his first Masters 1000, his third title of the season after Mallorca and Chengdu. Jodar had won the first set and was a break up in the second, at 3-2. Davidovich broke straight back and won the tie-break 7-5. At 4-3 in the third set Jodar called the physio for a massage on his right thigh, and Davidovich closed out the final on his own serve.

Davidovich had lost the first five finals of his career, including Monte-Carlo 2022 against Tsitsipas, and has now won his last three. After the stop for his July injury, which also cost him the US Open, he strung together ten wins in China between Chengdu and Shanghai. After the match he said his "mind was blank" and that he felt "just huge relief".

Looking back from the start, his week followed almost always the same script: the match point saved against Tiafoe, the comebacks against Hurkacz and Zverev, and yesterday a set lost 6-1 before he found his way back into the match. Jodar played a first set that at times seemed to settle things, and the feeling is that the week's fatigue caught up with him right when the last effort was needed. He said he had "given everything", and Davidovich reminded him that he is twenty and that "you'll be here many times". For Jodar it was his first Masters 1000 final.

🇦🇹 Miedler and Oberleitner, the first Austrian pair to win a 1000 in doubles

Lucas Miedler and Neil Oberleitner won the doubles, beating Francisco Cabral and JJ Tracy 6-3, 6-4 in the final. They did not drop a set all tournament. It is the first Masters 1000 title for both, and the first time an all-Austrian pair has won a 1000 in doubles.

Getting through a draw like that without dropping a set usually points to a solid partnership, although a single week still says little about how long it can last.

WHAT'S HAPPENING TODAY:

• The new ATP rankings - Shanghai ended yesterday. With the points from the tournament Davidovich climbs to No. 13, his career-high ranking.
• Jodar and the Race to Turin - With the 650 points from the final, Jodar leaves China ninth in the Race on 3,159 points, 279 ahead of de Minaur and 319 ahead of Djokovic. With Sinner out for the rest of the season, ninth place is worth the ATP Finals, and Zverev, Alcaraz and Shelton have already qualified. Davidovich, with the title, climbs to fourteenth.

Read More

• ATP Shanghai: relentless Davidovich Fokina! He comes back against Jodar too and wins his first Masters 1000
• ATP Shanghai: Jodar beaten, Davidovich Fokina celebrates
• Jodar loses to Davidovich Fokina in the Shanghai final: how the race to the ATP Finals changes
• Davidovich Fokina beats Jodar in the final and wins his first career 1000 in Shanghai
• Alejandro Davidovich Fokina beats Rafael Jodar for Shanghai Masters title
• How Rafael Jodar's Shanghai Masters run has affected the ATP Finals qualification battle

Enjoy your breakfast and have a great day.

See you on November 3 at 08:30 with TIE-Breakfast.