SHANGHAI: World number one Novak Djokovic produced a majestic display in a 7-5, 6-3 victory over American John Isner on Thursday to extend his winning streak in Asia and reach the Shanghai Masters quarter-finals.

Djokovic, who arrived in Shanghai after winning the Japan Open in Tokyo over the weekend without losing a set, did not drop serve in the 75-minute encounter and clinically took both of his break-point opportunities against the big-serving American.

Those breaks came in a commanding period where, at 5-5 in the opening set, the 16-times Grand Slam champion swung the momentum of the match his way by winning five games in a row.

“It’s always a big challenge returning the serve of Isner,” Djokovic said of his 6-foot-10-inch opponent. “He’s got one of the biggest serves of all time. With that height, the serve is a huge weapon and huge advantage.

“I managed to read his serve and find a good position on the return at the end of the first set and also (at the) beginning of the second... I thought it was one of the best serving matches I had lately.”

Djokovic, the defending champion, will next play Greek sixth seed Stefanos Tsitsipas who beat Poland’s Hubert Hurkacz 7-5, 3-6, 7-6 (7-5) in the only three-setter of the day.

Twice champion Roger Federer was far from his best but did enough to overcome David Goffin 7-6 (9-7), 6-4. He said that his devoted band of Chinese supporters helped pull him through a tough first set.

“I never really felt like I had the upper hand against David today,” said the 20-time Grand Slam winner, who looked unusually flustered at times.

Federer was left shaking his head in the first set and he suffered a rare inelegant moment in the 12th game, slipping on his own sweat — “a bit embarrassing”, said the former number one.

The Swiss fell awkwardly and was then broken by Goffin, 14th in the world.

But the Belgian lost his nerve despite going 3-1 up in the first-tie break, and Federer roared back to turn the momentum in his favour.

Federer was regularly serenaded by chants of “Roger, Roger, go go go” by local supporters all sitting together in one part of the arena. All were decked out in red.

Federer, who failed to win a Grand Slam this year, said their backing had been key to his revival.

“It’s definitely very special here because they all sit in one block, sort of like in football to some extent, which is highly unusual for tennis and a tennis tournament,” he said.

Federer, fondly nicknamed “cow” in China, will play an exhibition tournament at the end of the year in the nearby city of Hangzhou.

“Hangzhou was just something I thought would be this year good preparation for the Australian Open and also something that would be very exciting for me to go and play,” he said.

The 38-year-old plays fifth-seeded Alexander Zverev in the quarter-finals after the young German beat Andrey Rublev of Russia, 6-0, 7-6 (7-4) in the last match of the night. The German served for the match at 5-3 in the second set, but couldn’t nail down the victory until the tiebreaker.

Third-seeded Daniil Medvedev continued his quest to reach a sixth consecutive ATP tour final after beating Canadian qualifier Vasek Pospisil 7-6 (9-7), 7-5.

Medvedev’s frustration got the better of him when Pospisil led 4-2, 40-30 in the first set, which led to him smashing his racket repeatedly into the ground at the baseline.

“I usually don’t like to do it, to break the rackets, because it’s never beautiful,” Medvedev said. “But it’s true that sometimes it maybe can help to get some emotions out and get also the stress out.”

Medvedev, who reached his first Grand Slam final at the US Open in September, leads the tour this year with 56 victories. He next plays 10th-seeded Fabio Fognini of Italy in the quarter-finals.

“I think (he’s) the worst player I can play at the moment,” Fognini said of Medvedev. “He’s really dangerous.”

Fognini beat seventh-seeded Karen Khachanov of Russia 6-3, 7-5. Khachanov had won their first career meeting in three sets at the China Open quarterfinals in Beijing.

“I’m happy because I was losing to him last week and I was playing really good also,” 10th-seeded Fognini said.

Fourth-seeded Dominic Thiem of Austria recorded a straightforward 6-3, 6-4 win over Georgian Nikoloz Basilashvili and next faces 11th-seeded Matteo Berrettini.

Berrettini outlasted eighth-seeded Roberto Bautista Agut of Spain 7-6 (7-5), 6-4.

Published in Dawn, October 11th, 2019