Alexander Zverev beats Cameron Norrie in Beijing to strengthen World No 1 bid

The German, who captured his second major title of the season at the US Open last month, made a winning start to his campaign at the ATP 500 event despite arriving in Beijing only two days earlier.

Zverev raised his level in the first-set tie-break, winning six consecutive points from 1-1 to take control of the match before breaking Norrie once in the second set to seal victory.

"I am surprised because I didn't think I played well because I only arrived two days ago," Zverev said in his on-court interview. "I feel a bit jet-lagged and came from an indoor tournament to an outdoor tournament, but I felt good on the court and I felt it was a high-level match."

The victory extended Zverev's perfect record against Norrie to 9-0.

Zverev is targeting the year-end No. 1 ranking and has a chance to close the gap on current leader Jannik Sinner in Beijing.

Sinner, who won the China Open last year, is not competing this week and will therefore lose the 500 ranking points he earned from that title run. Zverev reached the quarter-finals last year, meaning he has only 100 points to defend.

That gives Zverev an opportunity to potentially take over the top spot after next month's Rolex Shanghai Masters.

To move to No 1 after Shanghai, Zverev would need to win the China Open and then claim the Shanghai title, while Sinner would have to exit Shanghai before the fourth round.

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