First-set comeback
Rafa Jódar, seeded 12th at the Shanghai Masters and ranked world number 13, beat Botic van de Zandschulp 6-7(4), 6-4, 6-2 on Wednesday, 14 October, to reach the quarterfinals of the hard-court ATP Tour Masters 1000 event. The Dutch player took the opening set on a tie-break, winning it 7-4 after Jódar had two break chances while leading 4-3. Jódar broke at the start of the second set, Van de Zandschulp broke back, and the Spaniard regained control of the match. In the deciding set he broke early, held his serve and broke again to close out the win. It was his third straight comeback in Shanghai, after wins over Agustín Tirante in the first round and Jiri Lehecka in the second.
Next opponent and Spanish run
Jódar will face Casper Ruud in the quarterfinals on Thursday, 15 October. Ruud reached that match after Félix Auger-Aliassime retired with an injury in the first set of their round-of-16 match. Jódar is the tenth Spaniard to reach the Shanghai quarterfinals, following Alejandro Davidovich Fokina, who did so on Tuesday, 13 October. Carlos Alcaraz lost to Zizou Bergs and is out of the tournament. El Mundo notes that Shanghai is the only Masters 1000 title no Spanish player has ever lifted.
The towel incident
Early in the second set, Jódar grew frustrated with a ball kid who was slow to bring him a towel, and he shouted an expletive-laden demand at the boy. Umpire Jimmy Pinoargote, from Ecuador, gave Jódar a warning for unsportsmanlike conduct, the penalty the rules provide for. Jódar protested the warning, and the umpire told him to make his requests to him instead of the ball kid. When Jódar said he had not said anything bad, Pinoargote refused to repeat the words.
I cannot repeat it, you know what you said.
The exchange drew wide coverage in Spanish media, which framed it as a lapse by a player young fans look up to.
Debut season and ranking
LaSexta reports that Jódar, aged 20, already has 40 wins in his first season on the ATP Tour and calls him the best debutant in the sport's history. The same report says neither Carlos Alcaraz nor Rafael Nadal won more than one match in their first year, while Alcaraz reached 32 wins and Nadal 14 in their second. Those second-season totals are shown in the chart below. El Mundo places Jódar 11th in the Race to Turin, where only the top eight qualify for the ATP Finals. The same outlet reports that Jannik Sinner has confirmed he will not play for the rest of the year.
What comes next
Jódar dismissed concerns that playing three-set matches in all three of his Shanghai contests could take a physical toll, pointing to the rest day between matches.
We have a rest day between matches. That has helped me a lot to recover and prepare well.
The Basel ATP 500 and the Paris Masters 1000 are the remaining chances to earn points before the Turin finals.