As the saying goes: legends Gonna Legend.
Champion four times in Shanghai Novak Djokovic It was gathered by a deficit with a set in difficult Sunday conditions at night, beating Yannick Hanfmann in Germany 4-6, 7-5, 6-3.
Always expected in China, Djokovic used the crowd to engineering a vintage rally as he offers a 41st record title of 1000.
“It is stunning. I can’t ask for more. Grinding for nearly three hours, the third round of a master at 38, with a full stadium cheering my name, is a dream come true for me,” he said.
The 38-year-old champion 24 times Grand Slam becomes the oldest player to reach the 16th round in the tournament of the tournament, and improves at 23-0 in front of the quarter-finals in Shanghai.
He will face Spain’s Jaume Munar in the 16th round.
After throwing the opening set against Hanfmann’s burning in hot and humid conditions, Gjokovic was two matches of loss on two occasions, but he came through a close narrow set breaking into the 12th match of the set to force a decision maker.
It didn’t take long for Gjokovic to capitalize in the last set, as he played a vintage point in the fourth match, exceeding Hanfmann in an extended rally to break for 3-1. It was all the advantage that should be Serbian – he kept served the rest of the road to close the victory in two hours and 42 minutes.
“Broadly when you have over 80 percent of moisture day after day,” Gjokovic told conditions. “What is what it is, you just have to deal with it.
“I had to really stay the storm today, Yannick played an extraordinary match from the beginning. A mediocre game by my first set at one it was all enough for him to break the service and win the set. It was so difficult to read his service, he was serving so accurately and with a high percentage-hitting every ball he had.”
Gjokovic ended up with 26 winners against the 19 forced mistakes, while Hanfmann hit 38 winners against 33 forced errors.
In the end it was Gjokovic’s service that was better held. He ended with 85 percent of the first service points earned, and lost only six points of the first service in two and three groups.
“At the end of the second set I began to feel that I could stay in the rally and read his service and make him play an extra blow … It was a brilliant war and battle anyway … I was hanging there with a lot of intestines.”
