Djokovic cruises into Shanghai quarters
Novak Djokovic continued his extraordinary form with a 71 minute dismissal of Feliciano Lopez in the last 16 of the Shanghai Masters. The world number one is on course for his second title in China in as many weeks.
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Djokovic advanced to the last eight of the Shanghai Masters on Thursday with a 6-2, 6-3 win over Lopez. The top seed barely broke sweat in the deconstruction. It was his 70th win from 75 matches this season.
"There is no secret. I guess it depends on how you feel on a given day, depends how well your opponent is playing, how well you're playing. It's a combination of things," said the two-time Shanghai champion.
"You can't just expect to win all the time very comfortably, but I've been doing so for the last week-and-a-half. Obviously it's giving me more confidence. Any time I come back to the court, I feel good and I start off well."
Djokovic's unbeaten run stretches back to the Cincinnati Masters final in August. he claimed the US Open in September and with his win in Beijing last week, he became the first man to top 13.1 million euros) in prize money in a single year.
The 28-year-old Serb said there was still room for improvement despite constructing what he calls his best season yet, after winning three out of four Grand Slam finals to reach a career total of 10.
"I think it's a combination of maintaining the high level, the performance, the tennis I have right now and also working on certain parts of the game that I think can be improved," he said.
"I was brought up that way and to always look for some room for improvement. I still believe there are shots in my game that can be better. I think that's one of the things that keeps me going. It motivates me to play more."
The Spanish former world number one Rafael Nadal advanced to the last eight courtesy of a straight sets win over the Canadian Milos Raonic 6-3, 7-6. The 29-year-old will take on Kevin Anderson after the South African edged past Kei Nishikori from Japan 7-6 7-6.
The third seeded Briton Andy Murray dropped the first set against the big serving American John Isner but prevailed. "Obviously it's tough to maintain your patience and not get a bit frustrated when you do get the chances and, you know, he serves an ace," Murray said. "There were like 13 break points. I would imagine he served an ace on at least half of those. He served very well when he was behind."
Jo-Wilfried Tsonga also needed three sets to advance against the Spanish giant-killer Albert Ramos-Vinolas.
The qualifier accounted for the second seed Roger Federer in the second round and he proved that scalp was no fluke taking the opening set against the Frenchman 7-6. But that was as good as it got for the 27-year-old.
The veteran claimed the second 7-5 and took the third 6-4 after two hours and 45 minutes.
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