Novak Djokovic opened his Shanghai Masters marketing campaign with a 7-6 (7-2) 6-4 victory in opposition to long-time rival and pal Marin Cilic in his first match since his US Open exit.
Djokovic, who suffered a US Open semi-final defeat to Carlos Alcaraz, kick-started his bid for a record-extending fifth title in China by sprinkling sawdust on his fingers to fight the humidity, which had him struggling to keep up grip early on.
The 38-year-old absorbed the heavy artillery of former Wimbledon finalist Cilic to earn a hard-fought victory in slightly below two hours.
“I struggled to find my rhythm from the baseline,” admitted Djokovic, who improved to a 40-6 file in Shanghai. “I [lacked] some matches – my last one was at the US Open – so I got a really tough opener against Marin, who when is feeling the ball, is so dangerous and can beat anybody. He didn’t give me time to breathe, so I think I dug myself out of trouble with good serving, which obviously makes me happy.”
Little may separate the veteran pair within the first set as each gamers held their serve up till a tie-breaker wherein Djokovic dominated.
The 38-year-old, who’s seeking to end the season sturdy after being shut out of the Grand Slams by world No 1 Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner, then broke Cilic’s serve early within the second and battled to see out the sport and seal his spot within the third spherical.
Djokovic will tackle German Yannick Hanfmann on Sunday after the 33-year-old upset twenty fifth seed Frances Tiafoe 6-7 (11-9) 6-2 6-1.
“Tonnes of respect for Marin, all he has achieved and who he is as a person,” stated Djokovic. “We get along very well off the court, we’ve known each other for some many years. The last time we played was three years ago, so it’s great to see him back playing at this level.”
Elsewhere, sixth seed Ben Shelton was overwhelmed 6-2 6-4 by David Goffin, Holger Rune claimed a 7-5 6-4 win over Sebastian Baez and Learner Tien beat Miomir Kecmanovic 4-6 6-3 6-4.
Jannik Sinner, who gained the China Open closing in Beijing on Wednesday, is scheduled to play on Saturday.
Prime-ranked Alcaraz, who beat Taylor Fritz within the Japan Open closing, introduced after his win in Tokyo that he wouldn’t play in Shanghai as a consequence of minor illnesses.
Story of the Tape
‘Djokovic fought off some demons’
Liam Broady says Djokovic got here by some ‘powerful conditions and fought off some demons’ in his win in opposition to Cilic
British participant Liam Broady, talking on Sky Sports activities Tennis:
“Another stellar performance from Novak. He’ll be so pleased with that. He came through some tough situations and fought off some demons against Cilic, who was playing pretty well. He hit 28 winners so it was never going to be an easy day against someone with that sort of firepower. It was a pretty tight six and four.
“With 84 per cent first serves gained, we knew it was going to be fairly excessive from Novak contemplating what number of aces he hit within the match. What shocks me is how excessive that first serve proportion is after which the primary serve factors gained behind it. It is so uncommon to get a participant who has excessive stats on each of these. He’ll be happy to be progressing.”
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