Both Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer were stunned this Friday and suffered eliminations from Shanghai Rolex Masters. The two champions ended their participation in the quarterfinals of the tournament and opened the way for younger players to reach the silverware.
The world No.1, Djokovic, was defeated by the Greek Stefanos Tsistipas after three sets 3-6, 7-5, 6-3. Novak opened the game very well, breaking Greek’s serve right away, and not allowing him to catch his breath. The way he started, everybody present believed that the Serbian is about to post another easy win.
But it didn’t happen like that.
As the match progressed, Tsitsipas found a way to neutralize Djokovic’s serve and his movement, thus changing the momentum on the court to his side. He made the decisive break in the 12th game of the second set to clinch that part of the contest and start pressuring Djokovic. He would then easily take the third sequence, as he completely changed the flow of the contest.
“It’s the best comeback that I have ever had, probably,” Tsitsipas said.
Meanwhile, Novak congratulated to his opponent by saying that the completely deserved to win the battle.
“He had the high-quality tennis, and he played very well after his serve. He was backing up his serve with really good and aggressive first shots in the rally,” Djokovic said.
The No.1 is in a tough position as Rafael Nadal closed down to only 320 points on the ATP rankings starting next Monday. The Joker has 1600 points more to defend (finals in Paris and at the Masters Finals), while Rafa has nothing to protect, but just win points. This means that we are probably going to see the Spaniard on the top of the list at the end of the year.
Meanwhile, Alexander Zverev eliminated Roger Federer. It was also a three-set event, in which the young German outplayed the legendary Swiss, 6-3, 6-7, 6-3. It was Zverev’s fantastic serve, which pushed him ahead following the first set. He had 89% points won on the first serve and 80% on the second, and in those circumstances, FedEx couldn’t do anything. On the other hand, the Swiss was struggling with his second serve, which opened the way for Zverev to make a break point and to snatch the first set in his favor.
With 6-5 for him, Zverev had three match points in the second set. But Roger performed a miracle and saved all of them, additionally making a break and taking that sequence, increasing the temperature among the fans.
Just as everybody believed that he might perform another superb comeback, as he had a 5-3 advantage, the German once again took over the wheel and shut down the noisy crowd.
“I told him at the net that he showed great character, that he was strong… I thought he didn’t show any frustrations or too much negativity,” Federer said about Zverev.
The German will no play against Matteo Berrettini in the semifinals, while Tsitsipas awaits his nightmare, Daniil Medvedev. The Russian has all four wins in the previous four matches against the No.7 in the ATP rankings.
