By Chris Oddo | @TheFanChild | Thursday November 9, 2023
Russian Alexander Shevchenko has been rising up the rankings all season, and now, after his first Top-10 win on Thursday in Basel and another Top-20 win in Metz, he’s into his first ATP final. Let’s take a moment to get to know the 22-year-old a bit better…
He’s up to the Top-50 in the Rankings
After defeating Taylor Fritz in three tiebreaks to reach the quarterfinals at Basel in October, Shevchenko shot up 20 spots in the live rankings to a career-high No.63. He lost to Felix Auger-Aliassime in that quarterfinal.
This week Shevchenko is at it again. He defeated Karen Khachanov 6-4 6-4 in Metz for his second Top-20 win of his career (and two months) to reach his first ATP semifinal. He then defeated Pierre Hugues Herbert to reach his maiden ATP final.
He finished 2022 at 154 in the world.
He’s engaged to WTA player Anastasia Potapova
The pair got engaged last month.
He Made His Slam Debut at Roland Garros
Shevchenko defeated Oscar Otte in the first round in Paris this year. He is 1-3 lifetime in main draw matches at the majors.
He Did Not Have an ATP Win Prior to 2023
Shevchenko got his first ATP win at Barcelona, defeating Italy’s Lorenzo Giustino 6-2 6-2 before losing to Alex de Minaur in the second round.
In the next week he qualified for his first Masters 1000 appearance at Madrid and defeated JJ Wolf and Jiri Lehecka before falling to Daniil Medvedev in three sets.
He also reached the third round at Rome in the very next week. He is 12-15 overall this season.
He Was Outside the Top 300 last March
The 22-year-old has been a climber up the rankings for the last 18 months. He broke into Top-300 in March 2022, Top 200 in June 2022, Top 100 in April 2023, achieving career-high No. 84 on 22 May 2023.