World number four Novak Djokovic was pushed in a hard-fought victory in his opening match in Shanghai on Saturday.
Four-time former champion Novak Djokovic started quest for 100th tour-level title by beating Alex Michelsen 7-6 (3), 7-6 (9) in his Rolex Shanghai Masters opener.
Novak needed his fighting spirit to overcome the inspired 20-year-old who had two set points in the deciding tie-break. He withstood the challenge from the NextGen American to seal the win in one hour and 55 minutes, improving to 33-8 in 2024.
“It was the first match against Alex and I also hadn’t played in a while, so it took me a little time to get the rust off,” said Djokovic. “He started off terrifically; big serves and an aggressive style of tennis… he’s not afraid to step it up and take it to his opponent. It was a very close encounter and I thought a high level of tennis in both sets. I’m just glad to keep calm when it mattered in the second-set tie-break.”
Match statistics: aces (7-10), double faults (3-0), winners (34-30), unforced errors (19-23), total points won (87-75).
The 37-year-old Serbian star will next meet either 28th seed Flavio Cobolli (ITA) or longtime rival Stan Wawrinka (SUI) in the third round.
You can download Nole’s desktop calendar for October 2024 here.
Photo: Profimedia
