TOKYO — Alexander Zverev opened his China Open campaign with a tiebreak-powered victory on Thursday, defeating Great Britain's Cameron Norrie 7-6, 6-4 at the Ariake Tennis Forest Park in Tokyo. The German relied once again on his exceptional play in tiebreaks to secure the straight-sets win and advance in his bid for a first-ever China Open title.
Following the victory, Zverev improved to 32-16 in tiebreaks across the 2026 season. The 30-year-old lost his first tiebreak of the year in the opening set of his Australian Open first-round match against Canada's Gabriel Diallo, but recovered to win that match before reaching the semi-finals in Melbourne.
Since Melbourne, Zverev has won tiebreaks against Carlos Alcaraz, Jannik Sinner, Rafael Jodar, Flavio Cobolli and Taylor Fritz. Seeking to claim the world number one ranking, Zverev enters the week as the hot favourite for the 2026 China Open amid the absence of defending champion and world number one Jannik Sinner.
Zverev will next face Chinese wildcard Juncheng Shang in the second round. Shang defeated Argentina's Sebastian Baez in his first-round match. Zverev and Shang have never played each other on the ATP Tour, with the winner to face either Novak Djokovic or Bu Yunchaokete in the quarter-finals.