SHANGHAI – Serbian Novak Djokovic, in search of his 100th title, beat American Alex Michelsen in two sets won in a tiebreaker 7-6 (3), 7-6 (9) for his entry into the Masters 1000 from Shanghai on Saturday.
The Italian Jannik Sinner, world No. 1, and his great rival of the moment, the Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz, had a calm start by winning in two straight sets, also in the 2nd round, respectively against the Japanese Taro Daniel and the Chinese Shang Juncheng.
Alcaraz on its way
It was Alcaraz who appeared first on the court, barely three days after brilliantly winning the ATP 500 tournament in Beijing against Sinner. The No. 3 seed only took 1 hour 16 minutes to dismiss world number 51 Shang Juncheng, 6-2, 6-2, his tenth success in a row.
“I’ve been playing really good tennis lately and I’m just trying to keep the momentum going,” Alcaraz commented.
“I only had time to do some training before playing this match, and being able to start like this is something that makes me proud. »
Sinner “very comfortable”
In his wake, Jannik Sinner did not hang around either, taking only one minute more, or 1 hour 17 minutes, to beat Taro Daniel (93rd in the world), 6-1, 6-4.
And he also said he was “very comfortable on the court”. “This performance is very important for me,” underlined the 23-year-old Italian, still embroiled in a doping case after the appeal from the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA).
The world No. 1 will meet a bigger player in the third round in the person of Martin Etcheverry, 37th in the ATP.
The Argentinian, however, is coming off a big match against the Dutchman Botic van de Zandschulp, won 7-6 (5), 3-6, 7-5 in 3 hours 43 minutes, the longest in the history of the tournament.
Being in the same part of the table, Sinner and Alcaraz could this time find themselves in the semi-final.
Djokovic s’en sort
In the other part of the table, the German Alexander Zverev, the No. 2 seed, has the Serbian Novak Djokovic (No. 4) on his way.
Winner of the only Olympic tournament this year, a symbolic but meager harvest for this ogre, Djokovic’s goal in Shanghai is to win a 100th tournament.
In a duel of generations against the young 20-year-old American Alex Michelsen, making full progress to 43rd place, Djoko was in difficulty even if he came out in two sets.
Trailing 3-0, the 37-year-old Serb woke up and gradually took the lead in the first set to win it in a tiebreaker. In the second set, he took Michelsen’s serve to lead 3-1, but was broken, the American coming back to 4-3. Here again, the Serb had to wait for the tiebreaker.
He gave the public the point of the match when, cornered after a drop shot, he passed a backhand pass while his back was to the net. He saved two set points before concluding on his third match point with a winning service.
His unforced errors and his lapses in concentration were ultimately without consequence, except for a match extended to 1:55. “Djoko” will face the Italian Flavio Cobolli or the Swiss Stan Wawrinka in the next round.
In his part of the table, the Russian Andrey Rublev (seeded no. 6) was eliminated by the Czech Jakub Mensik (65th) 6-7 (7), 6-4, 6-3.
