Zverev opens ATP Finals with convincing win over Jodar. Shelton vs. Fils up next

TURIN, Italy (AP) — Aiming to punctuate the best year of his career with another big title, top-ranked Alexander Zverev got his ATP Finals campaign off to a strong start with a 6-4, 6-4 victory over debutant Rafael Jodar on Sunday.

Zverev claimed his first two Grand Slam titles this year and ascended to the No. 1 ranking for the first time. He’s aiming for his third trophy at Finals after taking the season-ending event in 2018 and 2021.

“It's been a very good year for me. A lot of things that I've wanted to achieve I have achieved this year," Zverev said. “But playing here you can never take it for granted.”

The 20-year-old Jodar is the first man to qualify for the Finals in the same season that he made his tour-level debut in.

The 6-foot-6 (1.98-meter) Zverev dominated with his serve, cranking out 10 aces on the fast indoor surface, and consistently applied pressure on Jodar’s serve.

It was a convincing performance for Zverev after entering on a two-match losing streak that included a straight-set loss to Lorenzo Musetti in his first match as No. 1.

The only time Zverev got in trouble was when he faced two break points while attempting to serve out the first set. He hit an ace on the first break point and a service winner on the second and then another ace before closing the set out.

“To start the tournament with a 6-4, 6-4 win is always very, very nice," Zverev said. "I still think I have a lot of things to improve. It was not a perfect match.”

Later in the same group, U.S. Open finalist Ben Shelton plays Arthur Fils.

The other group opens on Monday with Carlos Alcaraz against Frances Tiafoe and Daniil Medvedev against Flavio Cobolli.

The top two finishers in each round-robin group advance to the semifinals.

Before the opening match, a parade of former No. 1s came out onto the court. They included: Ilie Nastase, Mats Wilander, Stefan Edberg, Boris Becker, Thomas Muster, Yevgeny Kafelnikov, Marat Safin, Gustavo “Guga” Kuerten, Lleyton Hewitt, Juan Carlos Ferrero and Jannik Sinner.

Sinner, the two-time defending champion at Finals, ended his season early due to a right knee injury.

See AP’s full tennis coverage here

Germany's Alexander Zverev enters to the court before playing against Spain's Rafael Jodar for a tennis match of the ATP World Tour Finals, in Turin, Italy, Sunday, Nov. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)

Germany's Alexander Zverev serves a ball to Spain's Rafael Jodar during their tennis match of the ATP World Tour Finals, in Turin, Italy, Sunday, Nov. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)

Spain's Rafael Jodar returns the ball to Germany's Alexander Zverev during their tennis match of the ATP World Tour Finals, in Turin, Italy, Sunday, Nov. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)

Germany's Alexander Zverev returns the ball to Spain's Rafael Jodar during their tennis match of the ATP World Tour Finals, in Turin, Italy, Sunday, Nov. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)

Germany's Alexander Zverev celebrates after winning against Spain's Rafael Jodar during their tennis match of the ATP World Tour Finals, in Turin, Italy, Sunday, Nov. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)

In a comeback tale like one from Harry Potter battling back his nemesis or a “Heated Rivalry” hockey hero rebounding from injury, a top global fandom site that was sidelined by a security incident is now on the mend.

The activist group behind the popular Archive of Our Own, or AO3, platform, a collaborative online space which serves up fans’ spinoff narratives derived from well-known published stories, says it’s undergoing a limited return after a shutdown on Oct. 29.

“AO3 is now up!” said a status page for the Organization for Transformative Works, an activist group behind the platform, on Sunday.

The outage sent fans of the platform — readers and authors alike — into a desperate void for the past two weeks, with a “Bad Gateway” message stirring frustration. Some authors were outraged when readers uploaded their works to Google Drive and other platforms without their permission during the outage.

The return drew many expressions of joy Sunday.

The organization, in a summary it posted on Instagram of its 2025 results, said nearly 2.6 million AO3 works were created, with nearly 40 billion page views. Nearly 2 million accounts have been created, it said.

AO3 hasn't been without its critics, who have warned about sexual content that could be available to minors and fandom racism through the platform.

The group said some features like user icons have been disabled and importing of external work isn’t available, while downloads are currently only possible in the web-language HTML format. It promised those features will ultimately return.

“We understand that the wait and uncertainty surrounding AO3’s return have been difficult, and we apologize for the inconvenience,” the status update said.

In late October, the team predicted that the security incident would take up to four weeks for AO3 to get back up, while floating the prospect of a partial revival “in a degraded state” — which appears to be what was taking place on Sunday.

The organization said contributors’ “works, bookmarks, kudos, etc., are still safe” and that no drafts were deleted during the outage — but it couldn’t rule out that the user database might have been compromised.

AO3 is a hub of content from fans who have produced content that riffs off fiction, art and other culture and entertainment: Imagine a repository of sequels, prequels and derivatives dreamt up by adoring aficionados of some of the world’s best-known titles.

The result is catchy products like “fanfic” — fiction from fans — and similar fanart, as well as “podfics,” readings of narratives shared in audio form.

A recent listing of “ship stats” — or the number of references to relationships of stars from literature — shows that pairings of characters featured in the Harry Potter, Heated Rivalry and anime fandoms were the most prominent this summer.

The platform, which is run by volunteers, went fully public in 2009, and has shown strong user growth: In June, the Organization for Transformative Works said AO3 had 11 million registered users — up from 10 million four months earlier. It said the archive was nearing 18 million works.

The reaction from many fans of the fandom platform was swift and exuberant about its return.

“So, we've all agreed we don't need to sleep tonight, now that AO3 is finally back, right? Right!?” quipped a user going by the name of yet.another.loon on the Threads social media site.

User Verkielos gushed: “Just got email from AO3 about a fic update. The world is healing!”

Associated Press writer Stefanie Dazio in Berlin contributed to this report.

The AO3 website displays a message welcoming readers and stating that the site is back online and no data has been deleted, in Berlin, Sunday, Nov. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/David Keyton) Photo taken with a smartphone.

The AO3 website displays a message welcoming readers and stating that the site is back online and no data has been deleted, in Berlin, Sunday, Nov. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/David Keyton) Photo taken with a smartphone.