Zverev Clinches World No 1 and Djokovic Loses in Basel: Friday Quarterfinals in Vienna and Basel

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Thursday 29 October was the day Alexander Zverev finally reached the top of men's tennis, and the day Novak Djokovic's fight for Turin took a heavy blow. In Vienna, Zverev beat Tallon Griekspoor 6-4, 7-5 in one hour and 35 minutes, without facing a break point, to reach his tour leading 13th quarterfinal of the season. In Basel, Struff beat Djokovic 6-7 (4), 7-5, 7-6 (5) in two hours and 36 minutes, for his first win in nine career meetings with the Serb. Two results, two very different stories, and both will shape the final weeks of the season.

Zverev, 29, will become the 30th player in history to hold the No 1 ranking when the new list is released on Monday, and the first German to reach the top spot since Boris Becker in 1991. He did it in style. He broke Griekspoor once in each set, sealed the win with an ace, and was then joined on court by his team and by Thomas Muster, the only Austrian to have topped the rankings, for a ceremony to mark the feat. Zverev's season record is now 64 wins and 16 losses, and he has won two Grand Slam titles this season, according to Friday reporting, with a consistency that Alcaraz himself has publicly praised.

How did Zverev clinch No 1?

Zverev needed one more win in Vienna to reach the quarterfinals, and that was enough to lift him to world No 1 on Monday, because Jannik Sinner has 500 points dropping and Sinner has already ended his season with a knee injury. Sinner, the current world No 1, announced on 6 October that he would not play again in 2026 because of a right knee injury. Zverev is the only player who can pass Sinner this week, because Sinner is not playing and his points are coming off. Alcaraz, even with a win on Thursday, cannot catch Zverev in the live rankings this week.

The path to Thursday was not easy. Zverev survived a dramatic first round match on Tuesday, beating Martin Landaluce 7-5, 3-6, 7-6 with a tiebreak score of 13-11, after saving four match points in a match that lasted three hours and five minutes. That win, his 63rd of the season at the time, put him into the second round against Griekspoor. Against Griekspoor, by contrast, he was in control throughout, never facing a break point, and breaking once in each set. In Friday's quarterfinals, Zverev will face Britain's Arthur Fery, who defeated Lorenzo Musetti of Italy 6-4, 5-7, 6-4 in two hours and 44 minutes, outpointing Musetti 99-97. Fery, ranked 35th, reached his first Vienna quarterfinal with his 18th tour level win of the season.

Zverev has spoken openly about what the ranking means to him, telling Tennis TV before Vienna that reaching No 1 was a childhood ambition. He won Vienna in 2021, reached the final in 2025 before losing to Sinner in three sets, and has described playing in a German speaking country as carrying a particular edge. He will be the oldest player to claim the year end No 1 for the first time in some analyses, although that detail rests on a single ranking analysis and should not be treated as settled. What is settled is the ranking itself: Zverev is No 1 from Monday.

What happened to Djokovic in Basel?

Djokovic, 39, lost to Struff in a match decided by one break and two tiebreaks. Djokovic took the first set tiebreak 7-4. Then, with Struff leading 6-5 in the second set, the German broke the only serve of the match to force a decider. The third set also went to a tiebreak, which Struff won 7-5, closing out the match with an ace. Djokovic failed to convert four break point chances in the second set before Struff forced the decider, and Struff had lost all eight previous meetings with Djokovic before Thursday.

The defeat leaves Djokovic stuck on 2,890 points in the PIF ATP Live Race to Turin, in 11th place, outside the qualifying places. With Sinner out for the season, effectively ninth place gets in, and that place is currently held by Rafael Jodar on 3,184 points, after Jodar himself lost in Basel to Valentin Vacherot 7-6 (4), 2-6, 7-6 (5). Djokovic had come to Basel knowing he would likely need to reach the final to stay in the race for Turin. He leaves after the second round, and he will still return to the Top 10 on Monday thanks to his opening win over Humbert, but his Turin hopes now depend on a very strong Paris Masters, from 2 to 8 November, which is the final qualifying event. Paris is not yet played, so Djokovic is not mathematically out, but the gap is now 294 points to the last qualifying place, and he has no more matches in Basel to close it.

Basel produced other upsets on Thursday. Swiss wild card Jerome Kym stunned top seeded Ben Shelton 6-3, 6-7 (4), 7-6 (1) in the second round. Second seeded Arthur Fils of France avoided the upset bug by rallying past American Alex Michelsen 4-6, 6-3, 7-6 (5). Sixth seeded Taylor Fritz of the United States dispatched Canada's Denis Shapovalov 6-4, 6-3, and eighth seeded Jiri Lehecka of the Czech Republic defeated German lucky loser Daniel Altmaier 7-5, 6-4. Lehecka will face Kym in the quarterfinals, a match where Lehecka has a projected path to Struff or Nuno Borges in the semifinals, and to Fils or Fritz in the final, according to Tennis Tonic draw projections. Those projections are not confirmed pairings beyond the quarterfinal, so treat the later rounds as projected, not settled.

What happened in Vienna on Thursday?

Alcaraz, seeded second in Vienna, survived four set points in the second set tiebreaker before beating Georgia's Nikoloz Basilashvili 6-1, 7-6 (11) in one hour and 40 minutes. That win improved Alcaraz to 13-0 at ATP 500 level this season, and to a 22-0 record in ATP 500 matches since the 2025 Barcelona final in earlier reporting. On Friday, Alcaraz will face seventh seeded American Tommy Paul, who routed Italy's Luciano Darderi 6-1, 6-1 to reach the Vienna quarterfinals for the first time. Paul's season record is 46 wins and 20 losses.

Third seeded Daniil Medvedev of Russia rallied past Britain's Cameron Norrie 4-6, 6-3, 7-6 (1), while Matteo Berrettini advanced when fourth seeded fellow Italian Flavio Cobolli retired in tears trailing 5-2 in the opening set, apparently with a muscle injury, in the first tour meeting between the two childhood friends from Rome. Berrettini stayed with Cobolli until he left the court, and Cobolli's Turin hopes now hang on a medical assessment. Berrettini will face Alex de Minaur in the quarterfinals, after de Minaur beat Learner Tien 6-4, 6-2 and earlier beat Tomas Machac 1-6, 6-4, 6-3.

What are the Friday quarterfinals and start times?

Vienna quarterfinals on Friday, on Centre Court, are scheduled in this order, with times converted from the tournament schedule. Vienna is on Central European Time, which is one hour ahead of London, six hours ahead of New York, and four hours behind Karachi.

| Vienna quarterfinal | London GMT | New York EDT | Karachi PKT | | Adrian Mannarino v Daniil Medvedev | 12:30 | 08:30 | 17:30 | | Tommy Paul v Carlos Alcaraz | 14:00 | 10:00 | 19:00 | | Alexander Zverev v Arthur Fery | 16:30 | 12:30 | 21:30 | | Matteo Berrettini v Alex de Minaur | 19:00 | 15:00 | 00:00 Saturday |

Basel quarterfinals include Jiri Lehecka against Jerome Kym, after Kym's win over Shelton and Lehecka's win over Altmaier. Struff, Fils and Fritz are also through to the quarterfinals in Basel, after their Thursday wins. Both finals are on Sunday 1 November, the Paris Masters runs from 2 to 8 November as the final qualifying event, and the ATP Finals in Turin run from 15 to 22 November.

What does the Turin race look like now?

Only Zverev, Alcaraz and Shelton had secured qualification before this week, according to Monday reporting, and Sinner is out for the season, so ninth place is the last place in. After Thursday's second round matches, the Live Race points, as reported by Tennis Majors and Field Level Media, are as follows.

| Player | Live Race points | Status | | Alexander Zverev | 9,240 | Qualified, Vienna quarterfinal | | Jannik Sinner | 7,950 | Out for the season | | Carlos Alcaraz | 4,700 | Qualified, Vienna quarterfinal | | Ben Shelton | 4,520 | Qualified, Basel second round loss | | Daniil Medvedev | 3,710 | Vienna quarterfinal | | Flavio Cobolli | 3,680 | Out of Vienna, retired injured | | Arthur Fils | 3,525 | Basel quarterfinal | | Frances Tiafoe | 3,380 | Out of Vienna | | Rafael Jodar | 3,184 | Last place in effect, out of Basel | | Alex de Minaur | 2,930 | Vienna quarterfinal | | Novak Djokovic | 2,890 | Out of Basel, needs Paris run | | Taylor Fritz | 2,785 | Basel quarterfinal | | Tommy Paul | 2,725 | Vienna quarterfinal |

That table explains why Friday matters so much. Medvedev, de Minaur, Fritz and Paul can all move up with a quarterfinal win, and a semifinal run would put them in a strong position for Paris. Djokovic cannot move in Basel any more, so he will be watching Friday from the sidelines, hoping that no rival pulls too far clear before Paris. For Zverev, Friday is different. He has already clinched No 1, so he plays Fery with the pressure off, and with a chance to reach the semifinals as the new world No 1. For Alcaraz, Friday is about momentum. He is already qualified for Turin, and his focus in Vienna is on winning the title and building toward Paris and Turin. A loss to Paul would be a surprise, but Alcaraz has already shown this week that he can win tight matches, and his hard court record in 2026 is strong.

Related live posts: Zverev One Win From World No 1 on Thursday as Djokovic Keeps Turin Dream Alive in Basel, and Wawrinka Bows Out in Basel, Djokovic Starts Wednesday: Tuesday Results and Turin Race Update.

Sources: Field Level Media ATP roundup, 30 October 2026; Tennis Majors, Zverev world No 1 and Djokovic Turin hopes, 29 to 30 October 2026; Tennis TourTalk, Zverev secures world No 1, 29 October 2026; ATP Tour via Sporting Base, Zverev world No 1, 30 October 2026.