Shanghai Rolex Masters 2016: Friday Tennis Scores, Results and Updated Schedule
Novak Djokovic suffered a scare as he came from behind to beat Mischa Zverev in three sets in the quarter-final of the 2016 Shanghai Rolex Masters on Friday.
He remains on course to meet Andy Murray in the final after the second seed navigated a tricky contest with David Goffin.
Earlier, Roberto Bautista Agut became the first man through to the semi-finals as he beat Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in straight sets.
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In the last quarter-final, Gilles Simon edged past Jack Sock in a fiercely contested match, eventually coming through in a tiebreak in the deciding set.
Here are the day's results and the upcoming schedule:
| (15) Roberto Bautista Agut bt. (9) Jo-Wilfried Tsonga | 6-3, 6-4 |
| (1) Novak Djokovic bt. Mischa Zverev | 3-6, 7-6 (4), 6-3 |
| (2) Andy Murray bt. (11) David Goffin | 6-2, 6-2 |
| Gilles Simon bt. Jack Sock | 4-6, 6-4, 7-6 (5) |
| Semi-Final | Roberto Bautista Agut vs. Novak Djokovic |
| Semi-Final | Andy Murray vs. Gilles Simon |
Recap
Djokovic had chances to break early on in both of Zverev's first two service games, but the German remained steadfast and held off his illustrious opponent before grabbing a break of his own.
Zverev was able to shut out the Djoker for the remainder of the set and even picked up another break for good measure. As TennisTV revealed, Zverev had success at the net, winning 11 points, while the Serbian was uncharacteristically sloppy with 18 unforced errors.
Journalist Carole Bouchard was critical of the 12-time Grand Slam winner:
As TennisTV demonstrated, it wasn't just Djokovic playing badly—Zverev was producing some sublime moments:
A double-fault from Djokovic handed his opponent a 2-0 lead in the second set, but the world No. 1 quickly hit back to level the scores at 2-2. The pair exchanged breaks once again, with the Djoker moving ahead for the first time in the match before being broken immediately at 4-4.
As BBC Radio 5 live's David Law noted, the 29-year-old was still far from his best:
Nevertheless, he was able to force a tiebreaker, and a missed smash and a loose volley from Zverev helped Djokovic take the match to a third set.
From there, the top seed was able to grind out an unconvincing victory over his opponent, who was left to rue his failure to close out the match in the second set.
Murray looked in far better shape, though the scoreline perhaps did not reflect how well Goffin played throughout the contest.
The pair followed serve in the opener until Murray came out on top in an exceptionally high-quality rally, per TennisTV:
Law reflected on it as the Scot used it as a springboard to break his opponent and take the set:
Goffin was able to avoid an early break in the second set in an incredible game that lasted over 15 minutes, and the pair continued to produce a thrilling match:
As was the case in the first set, the Belgian could not convert his opportunities against the relentless second seed—his failure to break Murray at 2-2 was soon punished, and despite a valiant effort, the Olympic gold medallist's quality prevailed.
Bautista Agut made an excellent start as he stunned Tsonga with a double-break on the way to taking a 4-0 lead in the first set.
The Frenchman was able to regain his composure and hit back, but a third break for the Spaniard ensured he would draw first blood. TennisTV shared the stats:
The second set was a much tighter affair as both players doggedly held serve, until Bautista Agut found himself 5-4 up with Tsonga serving to stay in the match.
The Spaniard then made his move, breaking Tsonga to claim a place in the final four of the competition. Bautista Agut has won all three of their meetings this year.
In the day's final match, it was Simon who grabbed the last semi-final spot, setting up a showdown with Murray.
Sock was in superb form on Thursday, as he eliminated fifth seed Milos Raonic. And he started excellently in this quarter, taking the set 6-4. Simon needed to up his levels in the second set and while it was an evenly contested stanza, eventually the Frenchman did enough to level things up.
The pair couldn't be separated in the decider for long spells, as they engaged in some attritional tennis. It meant a tiebreak was needed to determine the last semi-finalist and despite trailing for much of it, eventually Simon kept his composure under pressure to win through.
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