Djokovic beats Zverev in Beijing: the Serbian flies to the semifinals

Novak Djokovic is eternal, sportingly speaking. Precisely in a period in which we are only waiting for the announcement of his farewell to tennis, the champion surprises everyone and beats his strongest rival currently on the market, namely world number two Alex Zverev who took advantage of Sinner's absence and the intermittent return of Alcaraz to take over the world racket scene. And so at the age of 39, Nole managed to reach the semifinal of the ATP 500 in Beijing thanks to the success against the number 1 seed of the Chinese tournament 4-6, 6-4, 6-4 in 2 hours and 34 minutes of play.

"I'm still here, sweating and making the younger ones work hard...", his post-match satisfaction. A truly crazy match, that of Djokovic, perhaps among the best of the year, which allows the Serbian to remain undefeated in the matches played in Beijing, with 32 victories in as many matches. For a place in the final, the 39-year-old - in his 202nd career semi-final, his third in 2026 - will face Daniil Medvedev. Zverev, however, with this defeat will resume his quest for number 1 in the ATP ranking at the Masters 1000 in Shanghai.

The match saw a very balanced first set, despite the difficult start for Djokovic. In fact, the Serbian lost his serve in the first game and was forced to chase for the entire set. Zverev always showed great solidity, but just when he went to serve to close the set at 5-4 he had to cancel two counterbreak points for the first time in the match and, immediately afterwards, he closed 6-4 in 59 minutes.

Different progress regarding the second set, which was decided in the final, when in the ninth game Djokovic canceled a break point that would have allowed the number 2 in the world to serve for the match. Having gone up 5-4, it was the Serbian who scored for 6-4 which extended the match.

And the situation did not change even in the decisive set, in which the Serbian champion completed the comeback in the tenth game with the second match point available. What completely justified his success was neither the athletic nor the physical fitness which had tormented him for so long and which against the Chinese Bu he himself had declared he had managed to tame for the first time during the course of the work. How much more coldness and patience, precision and lucidity. Just 16 of his free throws against the 39 conceded by Zverev, who scored 19 times per serve and yet slightly down in the percentages to which he had become accustomed to the experts in his last crazy four months.

In the second set, the one that allowed Djokovic to go all out in the third, Zverev played only one second set, thrown to the amazement of the Chinese public. "I'll be honest, at the beginning I was cold and I hit two double faults, I hadn't warmed up well but it was my fault - declared Nole at the end of the match - I gave him a break and it was hard to come back, I had two break points but I wasn't able to exploit them, but already from the middle of the first set I felt I was getting into a good rhythm. These are the moments for which I continue to play, the motivation is not lacking and it's enormous when you have to face the best on the circuit in front of 15,000 spectators. But these are the moments that every tennis player dreams of being able to experience. This year has been tough for various reasons, but I'm still here sweating and making the younger ones work hard to earn what they deserve and I'm really happy to have qualified."