By Chris Oddo | Tuesday October 11, 2016

We really didn’t need more proof that rising German Alexander Zverev is the real deal. He’s already the first teenager to win 40 matches at the tour-level in a decade and he became the youngest title winner at the tour-level since Kei Nishikori won Delray Beach in 2008 when he won the St. Petersburg title a few weeks ago (he became the first teenager to win three straight matches against Top 10 players since 1986 during that two-week stretch, btw).

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But just in case there were still some doubters out there Zverev methodically punched past Marin Cilic at the Shanghai Masters on Tuesday, 3-6, 6-3, 6-2, to book his place in the third round.

The victory, Zverev’s seventh against Top 15 competition this season, was gritty. And it lends more credence to the theory that Zverev may indeed be the best young player in the ATP’s pipeline at the moment. Cilic played a very solid match, struck the ball with authority, had no letdowns in intensity and was healthy, but the former Grand Slam champion was eventually overcome by a player that was hungrier, more opportunistic and fleeter of foot.

Zverev wasn’t perfect the whole way. He tossed in a klunker of a game to get broken for 5-3 in set one then spent a few moments berating himself as Cilic served out the opener. But it didn’t take too long for Zverev to recover. He finally broke through in the sixth game of the second set, lashing a backhand passing shot at the end of a 28-stroke rally that Cilic couldn’t handle.

That break point, a grueling rally that featured fantastic legwork from the German and highlighted his ability to lockdown a point with tremendously steady ground strokes, would be the turning point of the match for Zverev. He held serve in his final two games of the set and kept the pressure on Cilic in the third.

Zverev’s competitive desire was on full display in the decider and he was the better player from start to finish. Going about his business like a tried-and-true veteran, he would win the last five games emphatically to put Cilic away.

There are a lot of fantastic young players on tour at the moment that fit the ATP’s #NextGen billing, and all of them are high on promise, but Zverev keeps proving that he’s far and away the most promising of the teenagers on tour at the moment. The others (Fritz, Coric, Rublev to name a few) perform in fits and starts, but the body of work that Zverev has put together is out of their league.

Only time will tell how good Zverev can be, and whether or not the other promising teenagers on tour simply need more time to develop, but right now the competition is not even close among the young guns. There’s Zverev, then a gap, then the others.

The German really took the fight to Cilic on Tuesday in Shanghai, and that’s what was most impressive about the win. Zverev is blessed with a lot of talent—he’s an extremely graceful mover, particularly for his stature, and he’s got power to burn and touch to die for—but the key ingredient moving Zverev up the ladder right now is his desire to win. He’s as hungry as they come, and even though he sometimes foolishly can lose the script when that hunger blinds his better judgement, it is that desire, when properly harnessed, that could make him great.

Zverev will face Jo-Wilfried Tsonga next in Shanghai.