Djokovic leaves Fritz no option and meets Sinner in Shanghai Masters 1,000 final

Novak Djokovic returns to the final Mastery 1000 for the first time since 2023. The Serbian tennis player will fight for the title in Shanghai after beating a Taylor Fritz who sold his skin dearly (6-4, 7-6). The Serbs will face each other Fishermanworld number 1, with the aim of winning his second trophy of the season.

“Nole” will play in the final after a practically impeccable tournament. He dropped a set in the quarters, in what was his only moment of pressure throughout the tournament. The rest was child’s play, with the exception of the duel against Fritz which caused him more than a little trouble.

Especially in the second set where the American took him to the tie-break after almost an hour of play during which Djokovic found himself with hip discomfort. He even had to seek help from the physiotherapist, but he ended up solving the problem by relying on his experience.

It was an epic tiebreak in which the Serbian led the rest 2-5 and ended up scoring 8-6 after saving a set point from Fritz when serving to tie the match. From now on, “Nole” will have to recover as quickly as possible to face the final against Sinner.

Maximum equality

Djokovic predicted another “tough match” against an exceptional server like Fritz: “I will have to prepare for another close match. In such fast conditions, serving well is a big advantage. I know what awaits me, but I ‘hope to be fresh.’

And of course, the Serbian focused his game on rest from the first moment: on Fritz’s first serve, he forced the American to save up to three breaking balls. And in the fifth game, he finally took the lead to take the set against him. Not that Fritz is particularly brilliant in his service. In the first set, all the statistics indicated that Djokovic was better, just like in the defensive game.

The second set started in a more balanced way, and precisely in a contested fifth game in which Fritz saved the break – up to 8 out of 9 balls frustrated the American throughout the match – the Serbian raised the alarm bringing his hand to his beaten right knee. with a gesture of pain.

The Balkans are tough and have finally recovered. But the problems will reappear at the end of the eleventh match, and this time it will seem something more serious: Djokovic had to ask for a break to receive help from the physiotherapist due to pain in the left side of the hip, which he had made himself limp in the preceding minutes.

Although that made him even more flawed, “Nole” didn’t let Fritz, who had missed the chance to break him in the eighth game and also lost a set point, smell the blood. Thus, he ended up sealing his access to the final via a tie-break at one hour and 56 minutes.