Djokovic dominates Cobolli, advances to fourth round in Shanghai

Novak Djokovic passed the latest test in his quest for a 100th tour-level title with flying colours on Tuesday as he overpowered Flavio Cobolli 6-1, 6-2 to advance to the fourth round at the Rolex Shanghai Masters.

In a contest that thoroughly contrasted his opener against #NextGenATP American Michelsen, Djokovic surged to a dominant win over Cobolli in their maiden Lexus ATP Head2Head meeting.

“From the beginning I had a clear game plan of what I needed to do, staying aggressive and trying to use every short ball to take the initiative in the point,” said Djokovic, who improved to 34-8 on the season. “Cobolli was evidently exhausted after last night’s match [against Stan Wawrinka]. I think that has taken a toll, physically, on him today.

“I haven’t played too many matches, I think the positive in that is that I’m fresh, so I am happy to play every day [for] as long as it takes.”

Feeling right at home ? @DjokerNole takes care of Cobolli 6-1 6-2 to return to the Round of 16 in Shanghai.@SH_RolexMasters | #RolexShanghaiMasters pic.twitter.com/YnTY7OadqN

Djokovic will next face Roman Safiullin, who battled back from a set and a break deficit to upset 13th seed Frances Tiafoe in an absorbing third-round clash. Safiullin struck 51 winners en route to a 5-7, 7-5, 7-6(5) victory, prevailing in three hours and four minutes.

Rain delays in Shanghai meant that the fans were forced to wait until Tuesday to see the record four-time champion contest his third-round match, but they were treated to a vintage Djokovic performance under the lights.

Djokovic, who is making his first appearance at the Chinese ATP Masters 1000 since 2019, was dialled in from the get-go, striking cleanly from both wings to control the baseline exchanges and surge into an early lead. He fired 11 winners in a 29-minute first set, according to Infosys ATP Stats.

Cobolli weathered the oncoming storm at the beginning of the second set to hold serve twice, but Djokovic kept his foot on the gas to dismantle the Italian’s serve in the fifth game.

From there, Djokovic cruised to victory to boost his hopes of qualifying for the Nitto ATP Finals in Turin. The Serb is currently eighth in the PIF ATP Live Race To Turin, 220 points behind Andrey Rublev in seventh.