Shanghai Masters: Alexander Zverev overcomes Halys' challenge in R3 to secure 60th win of 2026
Shanghai, Oct 11
Alexander Zverev overcame a spirited challenge from Quentin Halys in the third round at the Shanghai Masters 6-4, 6-7, 6-3 to secure his 60th win of 2026 here on Sunday.
The top-seeded German was tested by his French opponent, who had earlier pushed him to five sets during Zverev's 2026 US Open title run. Zverev missed two match points in the second-set tiebreak, which was bagged by Halys.
However, the World No.2 broke his opponent twice early in the first and third sets to secure a win, which is his 60th tour-level victory of 2026. This marked the third time he went past 60 wins in a season, having won 60 matches in 2018 and 69 in 2024.
"I feel like this year I've been picking my places where I want to peak, and I feel like I did that quite well," Zverev, the reigning French Open and US Open champion, said. "I didn't do that in the early stages of my career. I wanted to play well every single tournament, and I feel like this year I've been working through a lot of tournaments.
"I've had maybe some losses I shouldn't have had, but it paid off because I won two Grand Slams and peaked at the right moments and made another final at Wimbledon. So I'm happy with that, but I think that 60 wins doesn't tell the whole story."
Zverev fended off the Frenchman and did not face a single break point across the two-hour and 17-minute battle. He has now beaten Halys all four times that they have faced with all those matches coming in 2026.
"He plays unbelievably aggressive and he serves incredible," Zverev said of Halys. "I think for his height, he's probably the best server in men's tennis right now... He can change up his ball toss so much but he can still hit every single spot, so you never know what do and you can't really guess the serve, you can't really read it.
"That's what makes it difficult. His first forehand after the serve is (also) unbelievable, so credit to him. He's been playing amazing tennis, rising up the rankings this year, so I hope to see him as a seed in the next years, because I don't want to play him first or second round anymore."
— IANS
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