SHANGHAI, Oct. 8 (Xinhua) -- Novak Djokovic eased past Italian Flavio Cobolli 6-1, 6-2 to cruise into the fourth round of the ATP Shanghai Masters here on Tuesday.
The Serb took an early lead in the opening set by leveraging the baseline exchanges with clean strikes from both wings. The quick opener encouraged him to put more pressure on the Italian in the second set. Though Cobolli managed to hold serve twice, he failed to resist Djokovic's aggressive attack in the fifth game, seeing another smooth triumph for his opponent since then.
"Great level of tennis I think from me from the beginning. I had a clear game plan of what I need to do and how to execute it," said Djokovic, adding that the long match last night affected the Italian's physical condition.
Entering the fourth round, Djokovic will meet Roman Safiullin of Russia. "I played him couple times before, so I know his quality. He loves to play fast, take the ball on the rise, so I have to be very sharp for that one," Djokovic noted.
Elsewhere, veteran Gael Monfils upset his French compatriot Ugo Humbert 7-6 (7), 2-6, 6-1 to face Carlos Alcaraz in the round of 16, which will be their second meeting after the French sealed the victory in Cincinnati.
Looking forward to his next match, Monfils described it as "a really tough one." "Last time I was very fortunate, and it was not a good match from him, and one of my good matches. His level is unbelievable," he said.
"For me, it's just an honor to be on the court with this guy tomorrow, so it's going to be great to face him again," he added.
In terms of men's doubles, Wang Aoran and Zhou Yi of China defeated Fabien Reboul and Sadio Doumbia of France 7-6 (3), 6-4. Simone Bolelli and Andrea Vavassori of Italy beat China's Zhang Zhizhen and Czechia's Tomas Machac 7-6 (4), 6-7 (5), 10-7. ■