Shanghai: Novak Djokovic said he had been “hanging by a rope” before battling through to the Shanghai Masters last 16 with a 4-6, 7-5, 6-3 win over qualifier Yannick Hanfmann on Sunday. The 38-year-old Serb is looking to win a record-extending fifth title in Shanghai but was given a mighty scare by the 150th-ranked German.
Djokovic fired two aces to start, delighting the crowd, but soon ran into trouble as Hanfmann found his range. The German broke in the third game and held serve after that to clinch the first set.
“I was just outplayed by a better player for a set and a half - I was hanging by a rope to stay in the match,” Djokovic said.
Neither player was able to take control of a gruelling second set until a series of unforced errors from Hanfmann in the 12th game gave Djokovic the opening he needed.
The 24-time Grand Slam champion then broke in the fourth game of the third set as his 33-year-old opponent’s precision dropped.
Cheered on by a stadium full of adoring fans, Djokovic held his resolve to take the third set after Hanfmann hit the ball out.
The United States’ Taylor Fritz on Sunday became the highest-ranked player to be dumped out of the Shanghai Masters, falling to 37th-ranked Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard 6-4, 7-5.
On a hot and humid afternoon, the world number four seemed lethargic and struggled to get into his stride, unnerved after Mpetshi Perricard nearly broke twice in the fifth game.
That preempted a streak of brilliance that saw the neon orange-clad Frenchman fire three aces to hold the sixth, then break in the seventh. A closely fought second set came to a head in the 11th game when a double fault by Fritz handed Mpetshi Perricard the advantage, which he swiftly converted with a backhand.
Denmark’s Holger Rune, ranked 11th in the world, beat France’s Ugo Humbert, 6-4, 6-4. Agencies
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