The future is now at the Rolex Shanghai Masters. Four of the most talented young stars in the sport have played inspired tennis this week to fill the semi-final lineup. Third seed Daniil Medvedev kicks off Saturday’s schedule against Stefanos Tsitsipas and fifth seed Alexander Zverev takes on No. 11 seed Matteo Berrettini.

Although Medvedev has a flawless 4-0 record against Tsitsipas in their FedEx ATP Head2Head series, the #NextGenATP champion has taken a set in all of their previous matches. But Tsitsipas isn’t shy to admit that he’s struggled against the Russian’s style of play.

“He has a very weird game. It’s very sloppy, but a good sloppy. I don’t mean this in a bad way. He’s just very uncomfortable to play against,” Tsitsipas said in August. “He has this completely different way of playing, flat and low, without giving you much angle to work with. It can be very disturbing to play against him. He can make you miss without understanding why you missed.”

Read More: Why Medvedev Embraces His ‘Weird’ & ‘Sloppy’ Tennis

Although Medvedev’s style may be unorthodox, it’s clearly working. The Russian powered into the last four without dropping a set and is on track to reach his sixth consecutive ATP final. The 23-year-old’s staggering numbers this season including 57 match wins, more than any other player on Tour, and prevailing in 27 of his past 30 matches. He’s also riding a seven-match winning streak after taking the title last month in St. Petersburg (d. Coric) and has won his past 14 sets.

But despite his success, Medvedev said he doesn’t feel invincible. He’ll bring his typically workmanlike approach to Saturday’s match with Tsitsipas and come prepared for a hard-fought battle.

Who will win the latest @FedEx ATP Head2Head match between these players?#RolexShMasters

— ATP Tour (@atptour) October 11, 2019

”Stefanos, even though I won all of the matches, they were all really tight. He’s also improving every week,” Medvedev said. “He’s still so young. He has two more years than me to improve, talking about age.”

Meanwhile. Tsitsipas looks to make one of his best weeks on Tour even more memorable. He enjoyed one of the best days of his career on Friday by fighting back for his first win over a current World No. 1 in Novak Djokovic, a match which he called “the best comeback I’ve ever had.” The 21-year-old then learned he’d qualified for his maiden appearance in the season-ending Nitto ATP Finals, held from 10-17 November at The O2 in London. 

Despite his record against Medvedev, he’ll take confidence from overcoming some of his most challenging opponents all week. Prior to beating Djokovic, Tsitsipas scored his first win over #NextGenATP Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime and avenged a loss in Montreal to Pole Hubert Hurkacz. If he maintains his current level, he has the tools to score another breakthrough against Medvedev.

”[Medvedev] has a very different tennis from most of the players that I have been playing against this year. He’s a very mental player,” Tsitsipas said. “Tomorrow is going to be a new challenge for me. I hope I feel well. I hope it’s going to be a fresh, new Stefanos out on this court, showing his best tennis and playing smart and making him play out of his comfort zone.”

Zverev’s showdown with Berrettini has major implications on the remaining two qualification spots for London. With their performances this week, defending Nitto ATP Finals champion Zverev moved to seventh place (2,615) and Berrettini (2,545) jumped to eighth place in the ATP Race to London. The winner of Saturday’s match will receive an additional 240 points.

The German’s season of highs and lows is firmly on an upswing after he defeated Roger Federer in an epic quarter-final for his first Top 10 win of the year. Zverev is a confidence player and at his best once he gets a few matches under his belt at an ATP Tour event. If he brings the same form he did against Federer, he’ll put himself in position to break the 1-1 tie in his FedEx ATP Head2Head rivalry with Berrettini.

Meanwhile, Berrettini is enjoying his own breakthrough week by reaching his first Masters 1000 semi-final. The hard-hitting Italian has routinely crunched forehand winners that exceed 150 kilometres per hour and consistently put his opponents on defence, racing into the semi-finals without dropping a set. If he can beat Zverev, the 23-year-old will make his debut in the Top 10 of the ATP Rankings on Monday.

Beast mode from Matteo Berrettini ?

?: @TennisTV | #RolexShMasters pic.twitter.com/Av0MYQaA4x

— ATP Tour (@atptour) October 10, 2019

The doubles semi-finals feature second seeds Lukasz Kubot/Marcelo Melo taking on sixth seeds Nicolas Mahut/Edouard Roger-Vasselin. Kubot/Melo’s quarter-final win on Friday clinched their spot in the Nitto ATP Finals. Eighth seeds Mate Pavic/Bruno Soares will meet Jamie Murray/Neal Skupski in the last match of the day.

SCHEDULE – SATURDAY 12 OCTOBER 2019
CENTRE COURT 1 start 1:30 pm
[6] Nicolas Mahut (FRA) / Edouard Roger-Vasselin (FRA) vs [2] Lukasz Kubot (POL) / Marcelo Melo (BRA)
[3] Daniil Medvedev (RUS) vs [6] Stefanos Tsitsipas (GRE)
Not Before 6:30 pm
[5] Alexander Zverev (GER) vs [11] Matteo Berrettini (ITA)
[8] Mate Pavic (CRO) / Bruno Soares (BRA) vs Jamie Murray (GBR) / Neal Skupski (GBR)

Italy’s Matteo Berrettini slid into the eighth and final Nitto ATP Finals qualification spot on Friday with a gritty 7-6(8), 6-4 victory against No. 5 Dominic Thiem. The win marks Berrettini’s second Top 5 win (Zverev, Rome 2019) and his first ATP Masters 1000 semi-final.

The 23-year-old Italian saved all three break points and improved to 33-9 since suffering a five-match losing streak on 14 April. Berrettini, the winner of two ATP Tour titles this season (Budapest, Gstaad), will next meet Germany’s Alexander Zverev, who beat two-time champion Roger Federer 6-3, 6-7(7), 6-3 to make his first Masters 1000 semi-final since 2018 Shanghai.

Look at the man go ?

Super speed from Matteo Berrettini!

?: @TennisTV | #RolexShMasters pic.twitter.com/32yjNPMYHb

— ATP Tour (@atptour) October 11, 2019

Berrettini added 180 points to his ATP Race To London tally (2,525), 40 points ahead of ninth-placed Roberto Bautista Agut of Spain, whom the Italian beat in the Shanghai third round.

Berrettini could knock out another London rival in his semi-final. Zverev, the 2018 Nitto ATP Finals champion, is currently in seventh place in the Race, with 2,615 points.

Thiem beat Berrettini in June en route to his second Roland Garros final. But on the quick Shanghai courts, Berrettini’s power, particularly his mammoth forehand, was too much to contend with for Thiem, who had won his past seven consecutive matches, dating back to his China Open title on Sunday in Beijing.

Berretini converted his fourth set point in the 18-point tie-break and broke Thiem in the seventh game of the second set before serving it out.

Alexander Zverev earned his first Top 10 win of the season on Friday, defeating Roger Federer in a three-set thriller to reach the semi-finals of the Rolex Shanghai Masters. The 22-year-old showed how much the victory meant to him after clinching the match, immediately turning around to his camp to let out a massive roar.

“It’s my [expletive] time now!”

For one, it’s his time to make a big move in the ATP Race To London. Zverev, the reigning Nitto ATP Finals champion, is now in pole position to book his spot at the season finale for the third consecutive year. After Stefanos Tsitsipas qualified on Friday, there are only two spots remaining, and Zverev is in seventh place in the Race.

“Obviously it was an important match. The head-to-head [against Federer] is obviously a great thing to have, but more importantly for me is it was a match to maybe turn my year around a little bit, and the Race to London is also very important,” Zverev said. “So I’m happy to be in the semi-finals now and give myself the best chance to win maybe two more matches here.”

It’s not that long ago that Zverev’s prospects of qualifying for London appeared in question. The German arrived in Montreal in August in 10th place in the Race.

But Zverev never panicked, even if he did not maintain the momentum of his victory from last year at The O2. This week in Shanghai, Zverev is into the semi-finals of an ATP Masters 1000 event or Grand Slam for the first time this year.

“You can always see things with the glass half empty or half full,” Zverev said in Montreal. ”It has not been the best year for me, but I am still… competing for London and the biggest tournaments in the world. For me, the year can only get better.”

Zverev (2,615 points) knows his spot is nowhere near booked though, leading eighth-placed Berrettini (2,525) by just 90 points and ninth-placed Roberto Bautista Agut (2,485) by 130 points.

However, defeating Federer to take a 4-3 lead in their FedEx ATP Head2Head series gives the German plenty of confidence heading into a crucial showdown against Berrettini in Saturday’s semi-finals, in which he can give himself more cushion in the Race.

“It helps a lot. I mean, obviously the five match points I had in the second set, them going away and still knowing that I can win in three sets is very important, especially against someone like Roger, because normally he doesn’t let go of these kinds of matches,” Zverev said. “It was great and very important for me… going into the next few tournaments and going into the next few matches here is also going to be, I think, a big thing for me, knowing that I can win these kinds of matches.”

Perhaps most importantly, Zverev showed signs against Federer that he is getting closer to playing the tennis that helped him to the 2018 Nitto ATP Finals title. And that will be what pushes him back to London.

“[I am] finally starting to play the way I should play, really. I was playing really defensive the whole year round and was not with a lot of confidence,” Zverev said. “Finally maybe starting to play some better tennis and hopefully I can continue this way.”

Alexander Zverev held on, despite losing five match points in the second set, to upset Roger Federer 6-3, 6-7(7), 6-3 and significantly bolster his Nitto ATP Finals chances on Friday at the Rolex Shanghai Masters.

Zverev had three match points on his serve at 6-5, 40/0 in the second set, but lost the next five points, due, in part, to Federer’s best tennis of the quarter-final. The German had two more match points in the ensuing tie-break – 5/6 on Federer’s serve and 7/6 on his serve – but lost them both.

Zverev, however, regrouped in the third, crushing more backhand passes on the run for his first Top 10 win of the season and his first ATP Masters 1000 semi-final since 12 months ago in Shanghai (l. to Djokovic).

Zverev adds 180 points to his ATP Race To London tally (2,615 points) to pass Spain’s Roberto Bautista Agut (2,485) and move into seventh place. The top eight will compete at the prestigious season finale, to be held 10-17 November at The O2 in London.

The 22-year-old Zverev now leads his FedEx ATP Head2Head series with Federer 4-3. Only two other active players who have faced Federer at least seven times have a winning record against the Swiss: World No. 1 Novak Djokovic (26-22) and No. 2 Rafael Nadal (24-16).

Zverev resembled the player who won the 2018 Nitto ATP Finals last November, his biggest title to date, with aggressive play in the opening sets. He was stepping into the court and outhitting Federer from the baseline, and when the Swiss forayed forward, Zverev smacked passes from both wings.

The German broke in the sixth game of the opener and again at 5-5 in the second set before he stepped up to the line to serve for the match at 6-5.

Federer, however, facing match points, delivered his best shots of the match, including two volleys that Zverev could only attempt to chase down as the pro-Federer Shanghai crowd roared with approval.

The Swiss let out a shout after winning five straight points from 0/40, 5-6 down and, in the tie-break, won his first set point to force a deciding set.

Zverev, though, broke in Federer’s first service game of the third set and stayed locked in, despite Federer’s frequent discussions with the chair umpire. The 28-time Masters 1000 champion received a point penalty for ball abuse at 0-3 down in the third set.

Zverev served out the quarter-final to 15 and set up a semi-final against the winner of London hopeful Matteo Berrettini of Italy and Austrian Dominic Thiem, who has already qualified for the Nitto ATP Finals.