Novak Djokovic said he showed “a lot of guts” to come back from wet conditions to beat the inspiring qualifier Yannik Hanfmann and enter the fourth round of the Shanghai Masters.
The 38-year-old Serb looked dull in the first set, but recovered 4-6 7-5 6-3 in two hours and 42 minutes.
Djokovic lost then-Jannik Sinner in last year’s final, and he will face future Spaniard Jaume Munar in the last 16.
“Yannik has been great from the start, it’s hard to read his serve, he’s swinging freely – it’s something high-end, it’s hard to deal with people like this.” Throughout the game, he relied on local support.
“The crowd got me up and at the end of the second set, I started to get into it more.”
Hanfman ranked 150th in the world and won his second career victory with just one player in the world’s top five by qualifying for a chance.
The 33-year-old won the first set and won the 24-time Grand Slam title after winning 17 winners from Djokovic 10.
Djokovic looked to be struggling with high temperatures and humidity and threw the water 3-2 in the second set.
But he slowly improved his level and eventually forced his first breakthrough point, with Hanfman holding in the second set 6-5 in the second set.
When Djokovic beat the winner to compete and get the game level, the audience raised the decibel level and pointed his ears to celebrate support.
Hanfman’s accuracy gradually diminishes in the decisive suit, and after launching forehand long long manually with a 3-1 score, the settings in the Serbian racer can be passed.
“I often have to play, maybe I’m not a better player,” Djokovic said in his stadium interview.
“I’ve been very familiar with fighting throughout my career. I’ve hung there and shown a lot of courage.”
