Djokovic battles past Michelsen in tense tie-breaker

Shanghai, Oct 5: Novak Djokovic roared back into action at the Shanghai Masters as he braved past Alex Michelsen 7-6(3), 7-6(9) in straight sets in the second round on Saturday. He will face the winner between Wawrinka and Cobolli in the next round. The Serbian faced a scare in the opening matches of the game and found himself trailing at 1-4 before making a comeback in which he prevailed in the tie-breaker.

In a full reversal of roles, Djokovic grabbed an early 4-1 lead in the second set before Alex fought back to tie the score at 4-4. The 24-time Grand Slam winner then went on to once again prevail in the tie-breaker to take the 2-0 victory.

"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. He started 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,” said Djokovic in a post-match interaction.

Djokovic also holds a stellar record against American opponents having now won his last 33 ATP-level matches against them, with his last such defeat coming against Sam Querrey at Wimbledon in 2016. Earlier in the day, World No.1 Jannik Sinner continued to assert his dominance as he became the first player this season to reach 60 victories with a confident 6-1, 6-4 win over Japan's Taro Daniel in his opening match at the Shanghai Masters. Sinner also became the first player born in the 2000s to achieve 250 career wins.

Alongside Sinner, Carlos Alcaraz continued his dominant form at the Shanghai Masters and eased past Chinese rising star Shang Juncheng with a commanding 6-2, 6-2 win in the second round.