Top seed Zverev marches on in Shanghai
French and US Open champion Zverev remained firmly on track at the Shanghai Masters in his bid to secure the year-end world No.1 ranking by seeing off local favourite Wu Yibing 6-4 7-6 (7-4).
The German world No.2 can ensure he will reach the pinnacle by the end of the year if he makes the semi-finals or if his nearest challengers Carlos Alcaraz and Ben Shelton lose at any stage of the Masters 1000 tournament.
Jannik Sinner is currently the No.1 player, but the Italian ended his season prematurely owing to inflammation in his knee and will drop the points he earned for winning the Vienna Open, the Paris Masters and the ATP Finals last year.
The only blemish on an otherwise perfect day for No.1 seed Zverev was a minor injury scare at 5-5 in the second set, when the 29-year-old slipped and fell near the baseline and then clutched his left ankle.
Memories of the serious ankle injury he suffered in the 2022 French Open semi-finals briefly resurfaced but Zverev recovered and completed the win in the ensuing tiebreak to book a meeting with Frenchman Quentin Halys.
Earlier, US Open runner-up Shelton celebrated his 24th birthday with a 6-3 7-6 (8-6) win over German Daniel Altmaier but it was the end of the road for Roland Garros finalist Flavio Cobolli, who fell 6-1 4-6 6-3 to Frenchman Adrian Mannarino.
