Novak Djokovic began his title defence at the Rolex Shanghai Masters by pushing his set winning streak in Asia to 22 on Wednesday. The World No. 1 and top seed rolled past #NextGenATP Canadian Denis Shapovalov 6-3, 6-3 at the ATP Masters 1000 event.

“It’s nice to be back. And also, it feels very good to play as well as I did today,” Djokovic said. “I knew that Denis is very dangerous player. If he has time, if he’s feeling the ball well, it can be a tough match.

“He was serving really well, high percentage also first serves, and just really difficult to return in the first set, so it took me a little bit of time to really adjust, start reading his serve a little bit better.

“But I thought I served really well. I used angles. I was very solid from back of the court. I had no problems with the shoulder pain… So no concerns there. Everything is feeling and looking good.”

The pressure was amplified in the second, and a loose service game from Shapovalov at 2-2 all but sealed it for the 33-time Masters 1000 titlist. Djokovic won all 10 sets he played last year in Shanghai and did the same last week when he won the Rakuten Japan Open Tennis Championships in Tokyo.

“Because of the history that I had in this tournament and in general in the Asian Swing and lots of success and lots of matches won in my career, I actually feel less pressure because I’m more confident that I can perform at my best,” Djokovic said.

The Serbian will face 16^th seed John Isner for a place in the quarter-finals. Isner hit 19 aces and never faced a break point during a 7-5, 6-3 dismissal of Australian Open semi-finalist Lucas Pouille.

Djokovic is looking to make up ground in the battle for year-end No. 1 against Spain’s Rafael Nadal in Shanghai. The Serbian added 90 points with the second-round win to push his ATP Race To London tally to 7,855. But he still trails Nadal (9,225 points), who is recovering from a left hand injury, by 1,370 points.

Colombians Juan Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah have clinched the year-end No. 1 ATP Doubles Team Ranking for the first time as a result of beating Americans John Isner and Sam Querrey on Wednesday at the Rolex Shanghai Masters.

They are the second all-South American team to finish year-end No. 1 (in the history of the ATP Doubles Team Rankings since 1984), following in the footsteps of Chile’s Hans Gildemeister and Andres Gomez of Ecuador in 1986. Brazil’s Bruno Soares was the 2016 year-end No. 1 with Jamie Murray and Soares’ compatriot, Marcelo Melo, finished in top spot with Lukasz Kubot in 2017.

“It’s been amazing and a crazy run this year,” said Cabal. “It’s unreal, we’re really happy and proud about what we have achieved. We have kept things simple and kept the hunger to achieve this amazing achievement.”

Farah said: “It is a great achievement and I will be very happy and honoured to receive the year-end No. 1 doubles trophy. I’ve been dreaming about this forever, so to make it a reality is pretty cool.”

Cabal/Farah has been the standout team of the 2019 ATP Tour season, winning five doubles titles from seven finals. They captured their first Grand Slam championship crown at The Championships, with a five-hour victory over Nicolas Mahut and Edouard Roger-Vasselin in the Wimbledon final, which saw them rise to joint No. 1 in the ATP Rankings on 15 July 2019. Two months later, the pair clinched their second major trophy at the US Open (d. Granollers/Zeballos).

The players also captured the Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell title (d. Murray/Soares) in April, successfully defended the Internazionali BNL d’Italia in Rome (d. Klaasen/Venus) in May, which represented their second ATP Masters 1000 trophy, and won the Nature Valley International in Eastbourne (d. Gonzalez/Zeballos) in June. Cabal and Farah additionally finished runners-up at the Sydney International in January (l. to Murray/Soares) and the Western & Southern Open at Cincinnati (l. to Dodig/Polasek) in August.

Chris Kermode, ATP Executive Chairman & President, said: “The way that Cabal and Farah have stamped their authority on the doubles game this year has been incredibly impressive. To seal the year-end No.1 ranking at this stage in the season is a fitting recognition of the level of success that they’ve had. To finish the season as No.1 is the ultimate achievement in our sport, and they are truly deserving of their position at the top of the game.”

Cabal, 33, and 32-year-old Farah were the first pair to qualify for the 2019 Nitto ATP Finals, to be held at The O2 in London from 10-17 November, where they will be bidding to win the prestigious season-ending event for the first time. The Colombian duo will be presented with the year-end No.1 trophy at a special on-court ceremony at The O2.

Alexander Zverev dug deep to beat Jeremy Chardy on Wednesday at the Rolex Shanghai Masters to boost his chances of qualifying for the Nitto ATP Finals, where he is the defending champion.

The fifth-seeded German saved three set points in the first-set tie-break en route to a 7-6(13), 7-6(3) victory over French qualifier Chardy in one hour and 47 minutes. Zverev returns to eighth position in the 2019 ATP Race To London on 2,345 points, usurping Belgium’s David Goffin.

The 22-year-old Zverev will next play Russia’s Andrey Rublev, a 6-2, 6-0 victor over last week’s Rakuten Japan Open Tennis Championships runner-up, John Millman of Australia, in 65 minutes.

After an early break exchange, the first set was decided by an epic 16-minute tie-break. Zverev missed out on set points at 6/5, 8/7, 9/8, 10/9 and 12/11, while Chardy could not convert set point chances at 7/6 (Zverev ace), 11/10 (blocked forehand return into the net) and at 13/12 (return long). With Zervev serving at 14/13, Chardy ripped a deep forehand return that was deemed long by Hawk-Eye, the electronic line-calling review system.

Chardy regrouped and broke Zverev for a 3-2 advantage in the second set with a deep forehand return to the feet of Zverev, who couldn’t deal with it. But Chardy committed three unforced errors when serving for the set at 5-4 and paid the price as Zverev broke with a forehand volley winner.

A terrific, low crosscourt forehand from Zverev to win the first point of the tie-break, and a forehand winner down the line at 4/2, helped to propel the German to victory.

Zverev is now 38-20 on the season, which includes his 11th ATP Tour title at the Banque Eric Sturdza Geneva Open (d. Jarry). Chardy, who has lost 10 straight matches against Top 10 opponents since defeating then-No. 4 Grigor Dimitrov at the 2018 Miami Open presented by Itau, is now 24-25 on the year.

Earlier in the day, seventh seed Karen Khachanov was impressive in his 6-2, 6-4 win over American Taylor Fritz over 69 minutes. The Russian, who lost just two of his first-service points (24/26), goes on to meet Italian No. 10 seed Fabio Fognini, a contender for the season finale to be held at The O2 in London from 10-17 November.

Stefanos Tsitsipas has accomplished plenty of first-time moments in his breakthrough year on Tour, but one thing he’s yet to do is beat Felix Auger-Alaissime. The sixth-seeded Greek will have another chance to beat his fellow #NextGenATP rival when they meet on Wednesday in second-round action at the Rolex Shanghai Masters.

Auger-Aliassime leads their FedEx ATP Head2Head rivalry 2-0, with both wins coming this year in Indian Wells and Queen’s Club. The 20-year-old also won their three ITF junior circuit meetings. Tsitsipas’ most recent loss to him at Queen’s Club left him feeling despondent about whether he’d ever be able to pick up a win over the Canadian.

“It does worry me. It’s upsetting obviously that he’s better than me. I have to accept that he’s better than me. I might never beat him, but if I think that way, just need to wait, years maybe, for that chance to come,” Tsitsipas said after his most recent loss to the Canadian this June at Queen’s Club. “There’s not much to come up with when you play against him. He’s pretty much solid from everywhere.”

But the Greek arrives in Shanghai with confidence after a runner-up finish last week in Beijing (l. to Thiem). Meanwhile, Auger-Aliassime enjoyed his own milestone moment this week by joining Tsitsipas as the second player to qualify for the Next Gen ATP Finals, held in Milan from 5-9 November. Their showdown in Shanghai is the latest chapter of a rivalry that has all the potential to blossom for many years to come.

“All the young guys get along pretty well,” Auger-Aliassime said. “Most of us played juniors together and I think they’re good people with good heads on their shoulders. We’re able to compete and have a good time as well.”

With four titles and a 32-4 record, Shanghai has become one of Novak Djokovic’s most successful stops. The top-seeded Serbian hopes for even more success at this event as he starts his title defense against #NextGenATP Canadian Denis Shapovalov.

”I love being back in China. I have lots of support here [and] they make me feel like at home,” Djokovic said. “They do things that I don’t think any other fans do the world. They wait for you in front of the hotel. They give you presents. They have amazing gestures. They’re ready to wait for entire day just to have a photo, to say hello.”

Djokovic is 2-0 against Shapovalov in their FedEx ATP Head2Head rivalry, with both wins coming this year at the Australian Open and Rome. The World No. 1 got his Asian swing off to a perfect start last week by taking the title in Tokyo (d. Millman) without dropping a set. A fifth trophy in Shanghai would give Djokovic his 34th ATP Masters 1000 crown and help close the gap on Rafael Nadal in their battle for year-end No. 1. Nadal leads Djokovic by 1,465 points in the ATP Race to London, but the Serbian can earn 1,000 points with a title on Sunday.

More From #RolexShMasters
* Shanghai Singles Draw Preview
* Shanghai Doubles Draw Preview
* All You Need To Know
* Can You Pass Our Quiz?

Fourth-seeded Austrian Dominic Thiem begins his week against Spanish qualifier Pablo Carreno Busta. The Austrian holds a flawless 5-0 record in their FedEx ATP Head2Head rivalry. Not only did Thiem prevail last week in Beijing (d. Tsitsipas), but his semi-final win over Russian Karen Khachanov made him the fifth singles player to qualify for the season-ending Nitto ATP Finals, held from 10-17 November at The O2 in London.

Fifth-seeded German Alexander Zverev takes on French qualifier Jeremy Chardy in a match that could have significant implications for the Nitto ATP Finals. Zverev, the reigning champion, currently holds the eighth and final qualification spot for the Nitto ATP Finals. He’s in eighth place in the ATP Race to London with 2,255 points, but a big week will help him hold off ninth-placed David Goffin (2,235) and tenth-placed Matteo Berrettini (2,185). All of them are still alive in Shanghai.

Other notable matches on Wednesday include seventh-seeded Khachanov battling American Taylor Fritz and eighth-seeded Spaniard Roberto Bautista Agut squaring off with American Reilly Opelka.

SCHEDULE – WEDNESDAY 9 OCTOBER 2019
CENTRE COURT 1 start 12:30 pm
[6] Stefanos Tsitsipas (GRE) vs Felix Auger-Aliassime (CAN)
[5] Alexander Zverev (GER) vs [Q] Jeremy Chardy (FRA)
Not Before 6:30 pm

Novak Djokovic (SRB) vs Denis Shapovalov (CAN)
[4] Dominic Thiem (AUT) vs [Q] Pablo Carreno Busta (ESP)

SHOW COURT 3 start 12:30 pm
[11] Matteo Berrettini (ITA) vs Cristian Garin (CHI)
[7] Karen Khachanov (RUS) vs Taylor Fritz (USA)
John Millman (AUS) vs Andrey Rublev (RUS)
Not Before 5:30 pm
[13] David Goffin (BEL) vs Mikhail Kukushkin (KAZ)

View The Remainder Of Wednesday’s Schedule

Welcome to the 2019 ATP Awards, where we recognise outstanding players and tournaments. Vote for your favourite players now and come back on Monday, 21 October, to view the nominees for the player-voted categories.

Voting for the ATPTour.com Fans’ Favourite Awards closes at 11:59pm GMT on Friday, 1 November. 

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Note: Fans’ Favourite candidates are the Top 100 players in the ATP Rankings and Top 25 teams in the ATP Doubles Race To London as of 9 September 2019. The Top 100 includes players with protected ATP Rankings who have played at least one tour-level match in 2019. Candidates with protected rankings are noted in the list with (PR). 

Roger Federer’s eighth appearance at the Rolex Shanghai Masters just began on Tuesday in China, but already, Federer’s father is pleading with him to come back in 2020.

Robert Federer, who’s making his first trip to China with his 38-year-old son, is having that much fun in the city of more than 24 million people.

“He told me, ‘Can you please play next year so I can come back again?’ Because he’s having such a great time,” Roger Federer said.

So far, Federer is having a similar great time at the season’s penultimate ATP Masters 1000 event. The World No. 3 arrived early in Shanghai to participate in sponsor activities. On the court, he started with a 6-2, 7-6(5) victory on Tuesday against Albert Ramos-Vinolas to avenge his 2015 Shanghai defeat against the Spaniard.

“ I enjoy it a lot,” Federer said earlier in the week about Shanghai. “It’s so very different to where I come from. I have lived in many different places in Switzerland and then travelled extensively. But this is pretty special, the way this city and this country is set up and everything.

“The size, when it comes to anything, is just off the charts. The fans get together, really make a conscious effort and want to show me how excited and happy they are… Means a lot to me. Don’t get that kind of fan grouping like this together anywhere else in the world.”

Leading the fan base in Shanghai have been Federer’s parents. His mom, Lynette, is making her third trip to the city after coming in 2002 and 2005.

“They’re having a good time. They are sightseeing. So this was the first time my dad has seen the centre court and the site. Very impressed, very excited,” Federer said.

“And I’m happy that they’re here. They are also going to travel with me to Tokyo next Monday. They have never been to Japan, my parents. That should also be an exciting trip. And they have just came from Singapore where my sister was, so they are on an Asia tour. They are having a good time.”

As for his father’s request, Federer said he will try to please his dad. “’All right. I will try my best to be back here again next year,’” Federer told him.