Djokovic Sharp In Shanghai Opener, Takes On Isner Thurs; Federer v Goffin

Following his first Tokyo title Sunday, Novak Djokovic kept things rolling in his opener in Shanghai cruising past Denis Shapovalov 6-3, 6-3 to win his sixth straight match and 12th straight set.

“It’s nice to be back. And also, it feels very good to play as well as I did today,” Djokovic said. “I knew that Denis is very dangerous player. If he has time, if he’s feeling the ball well, it can be a tough match.

“He was serving really well, high percentage also first serves, and just really difficult to return in the first set, so it took me a little bit of time to really adjust, start reading his serve a little bit better.”

The 4-time Shanghai champion returns Thursday to take on John Isner next in the third round. Djokovic leads 9-2 over the American, winning their last six.

Isner advanced with a victory over Lucas Pouille.

Also, Stefanos Tsitsipas earned his first win of any kind over Felix Auger-Aliassime 7-6(3), 7-6(3).

“I knew it’s going to be tough, and it was very tough,” said Tsitsipas. “I think, mostly, the concentration that I have put and the work that I have put into that match, I still felt like I had to put a lot in order to get that outcome at the end.”

The Greek now gets Hubert Hurkacz next.

David Goffin advanced to a meeting with Roger Federer after Mikhail Kukushkin retired down 6-3, 2-0.

Young Americans Taylor Fritz and Reilly Opelka both lost to seeds Karen Khachanov and Roberto Bautista Agut, respectively. And Alexander Zverev got through Jeremy Chardy 7-6(13), 7-6(3). The German saved three set points in the first set breaker. He’ll now face Andrey Rublev.

THURSDAY SHANGHAI SCHEDULE
3rd Rd 3 Daniil Medvedev v (Q) Vasek Pospisil
Not Before 2:00 Pm
3rd Rd 1 Novak Djokovic v 16 John Isner
Not Before 6:30 Pm
3rd Rd 13 David Goffin v 2 Roger Federer
3rd Rd 5 Alexander Zverev v Andrey Rublev