Davidovich Fokina wins biggest title of career after outlasting Jodar in a Shanghai Masters thriller

Alejandro Davidovich Fokina created yet another great comeback in Shanghai as he claimed the biggest title of his career by beating Rafael Jodar 1-6, 7-6, 6-4 in the final.

The Spaniard's week had been full of twists and turns, saving a match point in his 2nd round match against Frances Tiafoe then coming from a set down against former champion Hubi Hurkacz and Alexander Zverev in consecutive rounds. It was a title that was both well-earned by well-deserved for many reasons. I will talk through the way the match developed, the key turning points of the match but also the larger picture in terms of the evolution of Davidovich Fokina and why that evolution essentially took place.

Breaking down the key tactical changes of the Shanghai Masters final

The opening set of this final was extremely one-sided mainly due to the level that Jodar was bringing to the table. Without a doubt it was a serious struggle and upward climb for Fokina even going into parts of the second set due to the relentless nature of Jodar's tennis, the returning quality was unbelievable and Fokina initially could not hurt him in the same way he bothered Zverev in the semi-final either.

In the footage above, Jodar salvages the first break of the match through preventing Fokina from having those shortcuts whether it would be from penetrating in the baseline trade or the drop shot option and Jodar defends net excellently on a couple of occasions here.

Jodar has a great number of core strengths that make him hard to beat, but what I have loved this week in Shanghai is his ability to resist for long periods sometimes in defence and other times in a physical point and then he explodes off a neutral ball with an injection of pace. This forehand cross-court was also used well in the semi-final against Medvedev.

The bigger picture problem for Fokina was the serve/return dynamic which he was losing by quite a scale and that carried through into the second set but remarkably it still did not deter him. Fokina scrambles from back to front to make a great retrieval to break back for 3-3 and then he gradually got more control of things tactically even while the serve/return balance of control was not in his favour.

He saved two break points at 4-4 and another two break points at 5-5, and his renewed ability to get free points on serve in pressure moments came to the fore. Something Fokina lacked in the years he was chasing his first ever title before he won in Mallorca and Chengdu. The serve may have only had a marginal gain at best, but the reliability under pressure to deliver is the biggest uptick. Today showed just this from a mentality aspect. Fokina once again lands a punishing unreturnable serve to dig himself out the tiebreak and take it the distance. An animated reaction suggested he definitely was not going away.

The final set was kinda another story within the whole contest as Davidovich Fokina gained confidence more and more but Jodar's body suddenly began to fail him. It looked like a left groin problem alongside bouts of cramp bothering him. In years gone by it probably would not matter that much, but the renewed tactical discipline, composure and self-assurance between the ears from Fokina meant that Jodar's ailment mattered a lot.

Fokina's trademark shot is his backhand down the line and he creates scenarios in rallies to enable him to get that shot into play. He is not the norm in men's tennis in that regard, but it is his biggest weapon. This can be seen in the below footage where Fokina begins to take the ball a lot more early, he shifted some balance of control by redirecting up the line on both groundstrokes more.

But this is potentially the most impressive and remarkable transformation that I alluded to previously. Jodar was in a world of hurt physically from the early stages of the third and it is clear he is reluctant to plant weight on his left leg due to the groin issues, makes it even harder for him to have confidence to utilise his backhand line and subsequently he chooses not to. The game changer is Fokina had the tactical awareness to exploit this, kept him in the cross-court trade for as long as he could and won the match through that discipline and clarity of thought in the big moments. Two things he never had until now. This is seen in the clip below:

That was the mentality shift in this match and overall over time. Going from needing the moment to be concluded as quick as possible to essentially saying internally 'I could be out here all day long.'

On top of that, Fokina continued to still get a lot of help from his serve in the last few service games which steers him over the line if there were nerves present. Then strikes an out-wide unreturnable serve on match point to almost emphasise where the improvements lay. A Masters champion kinda serve.

The tactical clarity was obviously a big factor in him winning the Shanghai Masters crown, but the journey to get to where he has from a mental point of view is the big jump. Jose Manuel Clavet is a big part of that since joining in May 2026. They won their first title together in Mallorca almost immediately and he has helped Fokina a lot especially with trust after the Puerta debacle at the French Open.

But it is worth being said that a lot of it has had to come from Fokina himself in terms of putting aside the near-misses and the mental baggage that has been a burden for him and to grow into the player he has become. Below illustrates the marginal improvements and some significant improvements he has made in so many areas from the previous year. Conversion and forehand quality are the ones that stand out.

Fokina is in a lot of unchartered territory now that he is picking up a Masters title, beating some of the best players in the world on the biggest stages, and now we will see whether he and Clavet can turn that into major glory.