Novak Djokovic continued his winning streak in China with a 6-2, 6-3, win against world No.17 Feliciano Lopez in the third round of the ATP Shanghai Masters.
The world No.1 applied pressure to Lopez from the start of the match. In his first service game, Lopez had to fend off five break points before holding to get himself on the scoreboard at 1-1. Djokovic was confident from the start of the match. In his first three service games, the Serbian dropped just three points. The first move by Djokovic was in the sixth game where he broke his Spanish opponent after a lengthy game to lead 4-2. Despite dominating proceedings, Djokovic experienced a slight blip in the following game when he was forced to save three break points. The blip failed to affect Djokovic’s momentum as he broke Lopez again to take the first set after 38 minutes.
The ten-time Grand Slam champion continued his consistent momentum into the second set as he displayed some outstanding tennis. Applying pressure onto Lopez’s serve he grabbed another early break to lead 3-1 against an error-stricken Lopez. Admirably Lopez kept fighting, but it wasn’t good enough against Djokovic’s form, which was far higher than his. The Serbian took the match by serving it out to love.
Throughout the brief 70-minute encounter, Djokovic produced 6 aces, 17 unforced errors and 22 winners. In comparison Lopez produced 4 aces, 13 winners and 28 unforced errors.
The win over Lopez is Djokovic’s 70th win this season. 2015 is the fifth year that the Serbian has been able to win over 70 matches within the same season. Today is the seventh consecutive match that Djokovic has won by conceding five or less games.
