Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer both eased into the quarter-finals of the Shanghai Masters with straight sets victories on Thursday. World number one and defending champion, Djokovic, revealed that he felt some pain in his elbow against the big-serving American, Isner.
However, it clearly didn’t hamper the Serbian as he recorded a fairly routine 7-5 6-3 victory. The 16-time Grand Slam, who will face Stefanos Tsitsipas in the last-eight, said: “It is always a big challenge returning the serve of Isner. “He has got one of the biggest serves of all time and one of the tallest guys ever to play tennis.
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“With that height the serve is a huge weapon and huge advantage. “I managed to find a good position on the return at the end of the first set and beginning of the second. “I won five games in a row and that was the key, obviously having a break each set. Then I kind of held my serve. I felt it was one of the best serving matches I’ve had.”
Meanwhile, Federer reached his 87th Masters 1000 quarter-final, battling past David Goffin 7-6 6-4, to set up a showdown against Alexander Zverev. The Swiss world number three, who had to fend off five set points in the first set before edging a tense tiebreak, said: “I had to play some very accurate shots and it went very close to the lines.
They could easily have gone another way I know that. “I was a bit fortunate to win that first set but I played ok and I fought extremely hard. Sometimes it falls your way. I have had a good season and served well at the end.”
