Absent on the circuit since his elimination in the 3rd round (round of 16) of the US Open on August 31, Novak Djokovic made his comeback on Saturday during the 2nd round of the ATP Masters 1000 in Shanghai, played on hard surface, Saturday in China.
The former world No.1, who has only won one title this year, that of the Paris Olympic Games, got the better of the young 20-year-old American Alex Michelsen in two sets 7-6 (7/3 ) and 7-6 (11/9) after 1h55 of a match played under the roof.
Trailing 3-0, the 37-year-old Serb woke up and gradually took the lead in the first set to win it in the tie-break. 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 Serbian had to wait for the tie-break.
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 almost two hours. Djoko will face the Italian Flavio Cobolli or the Swiss Stan Wawrinka in the next round.
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