Djokovic shows ‘guts’ to reach last 16 in Shanghai

Novak Djokovic, who had been eliminated in the fourth round of the Shanghai Masters, said he had “a lot of guts” to recover from a set down in humid conditions to defeat inspired qualifier Yannik Hanfmann.

In the first set, the 38-year-old Serb struggled, but he won 4-6 7-5 6-3 in two hours and 42 minutes.

In the last 16, Djokovic will face unseeded Spaniard Jaume Munar, who lost to Jannik Sinner in the final last year.

The world number five, who leaned on the vociferous local support throughout the match, said, “Yannik played well from the beginning, it was very difficult to read his serve and he was swinging freely.

“Toward the end of the second set, I started getting into it more,” said the crowd, which eventually made me rise.

Hanfmann is in the top 150 in the world, and he qualified for the qualifying round to give him a chance to win only the second game of his career against a player in the top five.

The 33-year-old won the first set ace after claiming 17 winners over Djokovic’s 10, with the 24-time Grand Slam champion unable to break even at any other point.

After holding for 3-2 in the second set, Djokovic appeared to be struggling with the heat and humidity.

But he gradually raised his levels before finally forcing Hanfmann to stay in the second set, which was 6-5.

As Djokovic beat a winner to take the set and level the match, the crowds raised the decibel levels and waved to his ear in applause for the support.

After serving out the set at 3-1, Hanfmann’s accuracy decreased in the decisive set.

In an on-court interview, Djokovic said, “I’ve frequently had to fight in matches where I wasn’t the better player.”