Alex de Minaur’s Chinese resurgence has been halted ruthlessly by the rampant, soon-to-be-crowned world No.1 Alexander Zverev at the Shanghai Masters.
Yet even the German superstar conceded he had to find his very best tennis to down Australia's main man 6-4 6-4 in the quarter-final of the Masters 1000 event in China on Thursday.
Hoping to make another final just over a week after suffering an injury in Beijing's China Open final, the resilient de Minaur didn't do much wrong but couldn't crack the masterful serving of Zverev, who’s guaranteed to end the year as the top-ranked men’s player after a season-ending injury to Jannik Sinner.
"That was a huge step up. I felt both of us were playing really, really well and I was a lot of times out-hitting Alex which is difficult to do because he's so fast and likes the court speed here," enthused Zverev.
"I feel I've been handling pressure quite okay this year, but in a way you play a bit more relaxed," he added, accepting that perhaps he had been freed up just a little by having sealed the No.1 accolade.
World No.9 de Minaur, one of the best returners in the game, did well to eke out five break points over two key games, one in either set, but each time he was thwarted by Zverev's stunning 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 set as de Minaur earned two break-point opportunities, sniffing the 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 the help of 10 aces and 14 searing winners.
It continued de Minaur's depressing record against the German, as he's only ever beaten Zverev four times in the less pressurised environment of ATP Cup, United Cup or Laver Cup team competition but never in a big ATP individual tournament.
Three weeks ago, he had beaten Zverev in a tight Laver Cup duel in London, but this time the German raised his game to a very different level.
The consolation for de Minaur, though, is that he ends another promising tournament by having improved his chances of reaching the end-of-season, eight-man ATP Finals for the third-straight year as he's moved up to seventh in the live "race to Turin'' standings.
Effectively, that leaves him sixth overall, with Sinner's season already over because of his knee injury.
Zverev, meanwhile, powers on and will face Alejandro Davidovich Fokina in the semi-final after the Spaniard got through on the back of Frenchman Arthur Gea's retirement when injured at 4-1 down in the first set.
Friday's other two quarter-finals will feature soaring Spanish 20-year-old Rafael Jodar up against Norway's Casper Ruud before fifth seed Daniil Medvedev tackles American Tommy Paul.
