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Alex de Minaur has bowed out of the Shanghai Masters. (Getty Images: Shi Tang)
In short:
Alex de Minaur has been defeated by world number one Alexander Zverev at the Shanghai Masters.
De Minaur had break-point opportunities in each set, but fell to the German 6-4, 6-4.
What's next?
The quarterfinal berth strengthens de Minaur's bid to qualify for the end-of-year ATP Finals in Turin.
Top-ranked Alexander Zverev said he felt good on court after beating Alex de Minaur 6-4, 6-4 at the Shanghai Masters.
Behind his impregnable serve, Zverev, who is guaranteed to end the year as the top-ranked men's player after a season-ending injury to Jannik Sinner, enjoyed his most clinical match of the tournament after struggling with foot problems in earlier contests.
Zverev made 80 per cent of his first serves and saved all five of the break points he faced as he set up a semifinal meeting with Alejandro Davidovich Fokina.
"I felt both of us were playing really, really well. I was a lot of times out-hitting Alex, which is difficult to do from the baseline because he is so fast and he loves this kind of court speed here," Zverev said.
"I felt good, and I'm happy with the step up from the last couple of matches."
World number nine de Minaur, one of the best returners in the game, managed to eke out five break points over two key games, one in each set, but was then thwarted by Zverev's delivery.
After being broken for 3-2 in the opening stanza when the German unleashed a series of monster forehands, de Minaur immediately hit back in the next game by carving out three break points, only for Zverev to pound down five unreturnable serves in a row.
Having wrapped up that set in 37 minutes, Zverev then found himself under pressure from the Sydneysider in the second stanza as de Minaur earned two break points, sniffing an opportunity to move into a 4-2 lead.
Again, though, Zverev rescued the situation with fine serving and immediately broke a deflated "Demon'' in the next game to effectively seal the deal, earning his ninth win over the Australian, this time with 10 aces and 14 searing winners.
It continued de Minaur's depressing record against the German, having beaten Zverev only four times in team competition but never in an individual tournament.
The consolation for de Minaur, though, is that he ends another promising tournament by improving his chances of reaching the end-of-season, eight-man ATP Finals for the third straight year as he has moved up to seventh in the live Race to Turin standings.
That leaves him sixth overall, with Sinner's season already over because of his knee injury.
AP/AAP