Novak Djokovic had to work hard in his first match at this year's Shanghai Masters. The four-time champion faced Marin Cilic in the second round and earned a 7-6, 6-4 victory in an hour and 54 minutes.
The Serb seized the only break point in the oldest Masters 1000 match and defended all four break points in the closing stages of both sets to emerge at the top and book a place in the next round.
Holger Rune, with whom Novak trained ahead of the tournament, watched the match from the stands and felt impressed by Djokovic's forehand down the line winner in the 11th game of the opening set.
The 38-year-old had to dig deep to remain unbroken, defending two break points and firing a couple of crafty shots to survive and remain on the positive side. The set went into a tie break, and they traded four mini-breaks in the opening five points.
However, Novak delivered two more mini-breaks and seized the first set point at 6-2 for a massive boost after 67 minutes. Cilic, who fought well throughout the duel, struggled on serve at 1-1 in the second set.
He got broken and sent his good friend 2-1 in front. Djokovic served well in the upcoming games and forged a 5-3 advantage. However, he faced issues while serving for the win at 5-4.
Marin generated two break points and squandered them with errors. The Serb seized the first match point with a booming serve, moving over the top and earning his 415th Masters 1000 victory, the first after turning 38.
Novak is competing for the first time since the US Open semi-final defeat to Carlos Alcaraz. He played in the final in Shanghai a year ago, and he wants to reach at least the semi-final and arrange a possible clash with Jannik Sinner.
