Daniil Medvedev beat Alexander Zverev in straight sets to win the Shanghai Masters as the young Russian star continued his sensational run of form.
Appearing in a sixth straight final, Medvedev overcame Zverev 6-4, 6-1 to pick up his first ever victory over the German at the fifth time of asking.
Medvedev’s success in Shanghai earned him a seventh senior career title and fourth of 2019, in a season which has seen the 23-year-old assert himself as the most likely of the ‘Next Gen’ of players to break the stranglehold of the big three of Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal at the top of the sport.
Seeded third in Shanghai, Medvedev made a fast start against the fifth-seeded Zverev, breaking serve at the first opportunity as he raced into a three-game lead in the first set.
However the 22-year-old German – who saw off Roger Federer in the quarterfinals – dragged himself into contention by breaking back and leveling things at 3-3.
The next three games went with serve as Medvedev edged 5-4 in front, but serving to stay in the set Zverev crucially sent down back-to-back double faults to hand Medvedev the opening stanza 6-4.
The second set was more straightforward for a rampant Medvedev as the 6ft 6in Russian picked up the first five games before Zverev finally showed some resistence to hold serve and make it 5-1.
But Medvedev then held serve comfortably to take the set 6-1, closing out the match and clinching the title.
Medvedev’s Shanghai title – which came without dropping a set at the tournament – extended his sensational streak which has seen him accumulate a world-best 46 hard-court wins this season and 59 match victories overall.
Indeed, that last set he relinquished at a tournament came in his epic five-hour, five-set defeat to Nadal at the US Open.
After beating Zverev, Medvedev called his form “outrageous” but signaled he was keen to kick on to even greater heights.
The world number four has already booked a spot at the season-ending ATP Finals in London, and on current form will be widely tipped to trouble the big guns of Djokovic, Federer and Nadal.