World no.1 Novak Djokovic needed 79 minutes to reach the last eight at the Shanghai Rolex Masters on Thursday, defeating Vasek Pospisil 6-4, 6-4.
Novak started-off brightly, sailing to a 4-0 lead in the opening set. Pospisil broke back once, but the Belgrade native regrouped quickly and closed it out after 38 minutes of play.
A break in the seventh game of the second set was enough for the top seed to score another straight sets win and improve to a 58-6 season record.
“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.“
Match statistics: aces (2-12), double faults (0-6), winners (12-28), unforced errors (15-33), total points won (65-53).
Waiting for the defending champion in the quarter-finals is German qualifier Mischa Zverev (#110). Djokovic won their only previous meeting, in Marseille 2009 (6-3, 6-3).
Novak is bidding to win the Shanghai tournament for a fourth time, having finished triumphant in 2012, 2013 and 2015.
The 29-year-old Serbian ace is attempting to reach his sixth ATP World Tour Masters 1000 final this season, having finished champion in Indian Wells, Miami, Madrid and Toronto, and runner-up in Rome.
Photo: Getty Images
