Finishing the year inside the Top 20 and making ATP World Tour history is looking more like a distinct possibility for #NextGen star Alexander Zverev.
The 19-year-old German reached the third round of the Shanghai Rolex Masters on Tuesday, coming back to beat eighth seed Marin Cilic 3-6, 6-3, 6-2 in one hour and 54 minutes. Zverev struck seven aces and was particularly effective when approaching the Croatian, winning 10 of 12 net points.
Last month, Zverev became the first teenager to win an ATP World Tour title since 19-year-old Cilic won New Haven in 2008. The Hamburg native is trying to become the first teenager to finish the year inside the Top 20 of the Emirates ATP Rankings since Andy Murray and Novak Djokovic in 2006. Zverev is currently at a career-high No. 21, only 50 points behind No. 20 Ivo Karlovic.
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Zverev will next face ninth seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, who beat Serbian Janko Tipsarevic 6-3, 7-6(6). The 2015 Shanghai finalist (l. to Djokovic) won 72 per cent of his service points in the second-round victory.
Tsonga has an outside chance of qualifying for the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals, to be held 13-20 Nov. at The O2 in London. The Frenchman is currently in 16th place in the Emirates ATP Race To London but could make up significant ground with another run to the final in Shanghai.
Gael Monfils also drew closer to a career first in Shanghai. The sixth seed pushed his FedEx ATP Head2Head record against Kevin Anderson to 5-0, dismissing the South African 7-6(4), 6-3 to move into the third round. Monfils erased two of three break points and pressured Anderson's serve throughout the 93-minute match, winning almost 40 per cent of his first-serve return points.
If the Emirates ATP Race To London stopped today, Monfils would qualify for the year-end championships for the first time. The Frenchman sits in sixth place; the top eight qualify for London.
But the race still has about four weeks remaining, and Monfils has hungry competition at his heels. Rafael Nadal is in seventh place, 245 points behind the Frenchman; and Dominic Thiem rests in eighth place, trailing Monfils by 330 points.