Top seed and defending champion Novak Djokovic advanced to the quarter-finals of the Shanghai Rolex Masters with a 6-3, 6-3 victory over world no.17 Fabio Fognini on Thursday.
The reigning Australian Open titlist converted three of six break point chances and surrendered only seven points behind his first serve to extend his career lead over the Italian to 6-0 after just 69 minutes. He didn’t face a break point during the match.
“I needed to play a lot of long rallies and work for my points,” said Djokovic. “Fognini has a lot of talent, moves around the court quite fast and makes you work. It was a good win. In the important moments I served well. I played the right shots at the right time. A straight sets win is something that I was looking forward to.”
Match statistics: aces (5-2), double faults (0-2), winners (12-16), unforced errors (10-28), total points won (66-46).
Novak will next confront no.42-ranked Frenchman Gael Monfils who upset fifth-seeded Roger Federer 6-4, 6-7, 6-3.
The world no.2 takes an 8-0 career lead into their last eight clash. They last met in 2011 Cincinnati quarter-finals (3-6, 6-4, 6-3).
“Gael is always tricky when he serves big,” Novak said. “I think, he’s one of the most interesting tennis players to watch because he’s so athletic, he’s so fast, he moves around the court well. He’s somebody that feeds off the energy of the crowd. He loves to play big matches on a big stage.”
Djokovic is playing at the ATP World Tour Masters 1000 event for the fourth time. He has a 59-9 (38-5 on hard court) match record in 2013 and four titles from six finals.
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