World quantity 4 Novak Djokovic was pushed in a hard-fought victory in his opening match in Shanghai on Saturday.
4-time former champion Novak Djokovic began quest for one hundredth tour-level title by beating Alex Michelsen 7-6 (3), 7-6 (9) in his Rolex Shanghai Masters opener.
Novak wanted his preventing spirit to beat the impressed 20-year-old who had two set factors within the deciding tie-break. He withstood the problem from the NextGen American to seal the win in a single hour and 55 minutes, bettering to 33-8 in 2024.
“It was the primary match towards Alex and I additionally hadn’t performed shortly, so it took me somewhat time to get the rust off,” mentioned Djokovic. “He began off terrifically; huge serves and an aggressive type of tennis… he’s not afraid to step it up and take it to his opponent. It was a really shut encounter and I assumed a excessive stage of tennis in each units. I’m simply glad to maintain calm when it mattered within the second-set tie-break.”
Match statistics: aces (7-10), double faults (3-0), winners (34-30), unforced errors (19-23), whole factors gained (87-75).
The 37-year-old Serbian star will subsequent meet both twenty eighth seed Flavio Cobolli (ITA) or longtime rival Stan Wawrinka (SUI) within the third spherical.
You possibly can obtain Nole’s desktop calendar for October 2024 right here.
Photograph: Profimedia
