Novak Djokovic’s hopes of a first trophy of 2026 remained alive after a classic comeback win over top seed Alexander Zverev in the China Open quarter-finals.
The 39-year-old triumphed in a tight encounter 4-6 6-4 6-4 to extend his astonishing record in Beijing to 32 wins and zero losses – the best winning run at a Tour event in the Open era – with his bid for a seventh title firmly on track.
The Serb is enjoying something of an autumn resurgence after a poor summer, including a harrowing first-round loss at the US Open, his earliest at a grand slam in 20 years.
But he displayed his usual fighting spirit in a two-and-a-half hour win over world No 2 Zverev, the in-form player on the ATP Tour, despite dropping serve in the first game of the match and being forced to come back to win it in three sets.
His win makes him just the third man since the current rankings began in 1973 to beat a top-three player after turning 39, after Ken Rosewall and Jimmy Connors.
Djokovic said: “I had a terrible start. Two double faults at the beginning. It was quite cold and honestly, I didn’t feel warmed up, but my fault. Then it was hard to come back, but I kind of felt already from midway through the first set that I was starting to get a good rhythm.
“To be honest, these are the kind of moments that I still play for, compete for. The motivation is big obviously when you are feeling good and competing at par with the best players in the world, in front of 15,000 people of course. These are the kind of moments that define dreams, I think, of every tennis player.
“It’s been a struggle this year, to be honest, for different reasons, but I’m still there, still grinding, still making the youngsters work for their money. I’m just glad to push it through.”
Zverev served impeccably, as he has for much of this season, producing 19 aces in total and firing down four huge serves from 15-40 down to win the opening set.
But he was broken to 15 at 5-4 in the second and lost his nerve at the same point in the deciding set, netting a forehand to send Djokovic into the last four.
He will face in-form Daniil Medvedev for a place in the final after the Russian beat Francisco Cerundolo in straight sets, while the other semi-final will be contested by fifth seed Alex de Minaur and Hubert Hurkacz.
Elsewhere, Aryna Sabalenka fell in straight sets to rising Czech star Nikola Bartunkova in the third round of the women’s China Open, with the world No 34 triumphing 6-4, 6-3.
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