Kazakhstan's Alexander Bublik (22) lost to Germany's Alexander Zverev in a marathon third-round match at the Rolex Shanghai Masters 2026, falling 6:7 (6:8), 6:4, 6:7 (1:7). This was reported by Qazaqyia.kz citing Kursiv Media.

On the eve of the match, the son of famous Soviet tennis player Alexander Zverev Sr. secured first place in the year-end world rankings.

Currently, Zverev remains second in the ATP rankings. However, world No. 1 Jannik Sinner of Italy will not play again this year due to injury. Spain's Carlos Alcaraz, who is third in the rankings, sensationally lost in Shanghai to Belgium's Zizou Bergs (39) – 5:7, 6:7 (4:7).

Even if Zverev, like Sinner, skips all remaining 2026 tournaments, the Italian will lose more points than the German and will concede first place in the rankings to him. And Alcaraz is losing too many points to the German (5560 vs 9720). Thus, the match against Bublik was the first for the new tennis king in this status.

In personal meetings with Zverev, Bublik leads 3:1, so he played confidently, boldly, with an open visor. The Kazakh had a set point at 6:5 in his favor, and even led 4:1 in the tiebreak. But he could not hold the advantage, unfortunately – 6:8.

In the second set, our tennis player made a break in the fifth game and did not allow his opponent to do the same – 6:4. Bublik also started the decisive set with a break. However, he could not confirm it, losing his serve to love. After that, the opponents held their serves.

The fate of the match was decided in the second tiebreak. Unlike Bublik, Zverev only needed to lead 4:1 to maintain the advantage. 7:6 (8:6), 4:6, 7:6 (7:1) in 2 hours 37 minutes. Aces – 15:20, double faults – 1:8, total points won – 118:106.

Bublik (208) also played in the doubles at the Shanghai Masters. Together with Ben Shelton (125) from the USA, Alexander lost to the Belarusian-Russian pair Ivan Liutarevich (91)/Daniil Medvedev (352) – 4:6, 3:6.

The next tournament for Kazakhstan's top racket will be Almaty Open-2026 (October 19–25).

Rolex Shanghai Masters (sponsor name) is a men's ATP-1000 tennis tournament with a prize fund of $9.4 million. The only Masters-1000 series competition outside North America and Europe took its current form in 2009.

The record holder for victories on Shanghai hard courts, Novak Djokovic (8), has won here four times. At the current tournament, the Serb lost in his first match to Poland's Hubert Hurkacz (34) – 4:6, 3:6.

Three times the main prize was won by Britain's Andy Murray, twice by Switzerland's Roger Federer. In addition, Russians Nikolay Davydenko and Daniil Medvedev, as well as the aforementioned Sinner and Hurkacz, left with the trophy.

The current champion, Monaco's Valentin Vacherot (14), in the second round of Shanghai 2026 lost his way to the 1/8 finals to Tommy Paul (18) from the USA – 4:6, 2:6.