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Top seeds Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray continued on their Shanghai final collision course on Thursday. The defending champion Djokovic rolled past Vasek Pospisil 6-4, 6-4.
“I thought it was a great quality of tennis today from both players,” said Djokovic. “I was very pleased with the way I played from the first to last point. I don’t think I dropped my level at all.
“And on the other side, Vasek was serving very well. It was really hard to read his serve. He was hitting the spots beautifully. He was putting a lot of power in that. Just when I needed to read his serve and play well, I did. It was enough: one break in both sets.”
Djokovic will now meet surprising qualifier Mischa Zverev who ousted Marcel Granollers. The older Zverev outlasted his teen brother, Alexander, who lost to Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 6-7(4), 6-2, 7-5. Tsonga was down 4-1 in the third before winning six of the last seven games. He’ll move on to test Roberto Bautista Agut.
Murray had an even easier time blowing past Lucas Pouille 6-1, 6-3 to win his seventh straight match.
“The start of the match was pretty tight,” said Murray. “It was a long first two games and I managed to get through them and was up a break. It was a good start from both of us. Then maybe he started rushing a little bit in the next couple of games, and the first set was pretty much gone.
“In the second set he changed it up. He started using a bit more slice, he was serve and volleying a bit. He was stepping in on some second-serve returns, sometimes going back. So he tried a lot of different things today. But I came up with some good shots. At the end when I needed them, I was hitting the ball clean and moving well. I didn’t give him really many free points.”
Murray meets David Goffin who overcame a set down to beat Gael Monfils 4-6, 6-4, 6-2.
Stan Wawrinka was the big upset of the day. The Swiss lost to Gilles Simon 6-4, 6-4. Simon now faces Jack Sock who saved two match points in a 0-6, 6-4, 7-6(8) victory over Milos Raonic.
“I wish I had done better in the third set,” said Raonic. “I think the double fault I hit on break point down in the second set, gave him belief. Other than that, the match could have gone both ways. He stepped up and he took it.”
FRIDAY SHANGHAI SCHEDULE
STADIUM start 1:00 pm
[15] R. Bautista Agut (ESP) vs [9] J. Tsonga (FRA)
[1] N. Djokovic (SRB) vs [Q] M. Zverev (GER)
Not Before 6:00 pm
[11] D. Goffin (BEL) vs [2] A. Murray (GBR)
Not Before 8:00 pm
J. Sock (USA) vs G. Simon (FRA)
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