By Leobert Julian A. de la Peña
Novak Djokovic continued his perfect outing in the ongoing Shanghai Masters after sweeping Roman Safiullin- 6.3, 6.2- to advance to the quarterfinal round of the tournament on October 9, 2024, at the Qizhong Forest Sports City Arena in China.
With another dominant win, Djokovic kept his unblemished record in Shanghai and extended his 2-0 outing to three straight matches.
Just like Alex Michelsen and Flavio Cobolli, Safiullin didn’t stand a chance against Djokovic as the more experienced ace out-maneuvered him in the court during the two-set affair.
The 24-Grand Slam winner weaved his magic in China as he outclassed the Russian aspirant with his heavy forehand top spins and well-placed drop shots.
It didn’t take long for Djokovic to figure out Safiullin’s game after deploying a hard counter to his flat forehand stroke.
With Safiullin’s flat groundstroke not working anymore after Djokovic answered with a deep slice to the wide angle of his backhand side, the Serbian superstar put a green mark to his checklist moving on to the second set.
Djokovic wrapped up the opening frame with back-to-back service break points and was already in complete control of the game.
Safiullin devised his game plan at the start of the second and pressured Djokovic’s backhand but none of those adjustments helped him gain some momentum as the world no.4 ranked male tennis player fired forehand bombs that neutralized all of his counters.
Djokovic then replicated his mid-game performance in the first set and scored another service break, ending Safiullin’s campaign at the Round of 16 in the Shanghai Masters.
After the convincing win, Djokovic will look to stretch his 2-0 winning streak against Jakub Mensik in the quarterfinals of the ATP major tourney.
