The Shanghai Masters is witnessing the formation of the last 16 after a successful day for some of the top players in the tournament. Novak Djokovic easily defeated Flavio Cobolli in straight sets, setting up a match against Roman Safiullin, who made a comeback win over Frances Tiafoe. Other victors in China included Taylor Fritz, Holger Rune, Stefanos Tsitsipas, and Grigor Dimitrov.
Novak Djokovic breezed into the last 16 of the Shanghai Masters with a 6-1 6-2 win over Flavio Cobolli, showcasing strong performances from the seeded players in the tournament. The Serbian, a four-time champion at the event, put on a dominant display on serve and broke his opponent four times, sealing victory in just 62 minutes.
His next challenge is against Roman Safiullin, who fought back from a set down to defeat Frances Tiafoe in a grueling three-hour match. Djokovic, competing in his first ATP event since his surprising US Open exit, displayed commanding form as he pursues his second title of the season following his gold medal win at the Paris Olympics.
After the match, Djokovic commented on Cobolli’s exhaustion from the previous night’s match against Stan Wawrinka, stating, “Cobolli was evidently exhausted after last night’s match. 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 as long as it takes.”
Despite Cobolli’s efforts to recover from a slow start, he could not match Djokovic’s dominance on the court. Djokovic’s strong performance was reflected in the set one statistics, where he won 83% of first serve points and 88% of second serve points without facing a break point.
In set two, Cobolli showed more resilience by holding serve to start, but Djokovic’s superiority remained unchallenged. The Italian displayed determination by winning four consecutive points when facing break points, although he ultimately could not overcome his illustrious opponent.
Earlier on the same day, Ben Shelton of the United States secured a match against top seed Jannik Sinner after defeating Roberto Carballes Baena 6-3 6-4, adding to the excitement of the Shanghai Masters.