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P. 21
SPORTS A21
Thursday 15 October 2015
Djokovic wins 13th straight
match to open Shanghai
JUSTIN BERGMAN Open final on Sunday, prior during a match in Montreal Rafael Nadal of Spain hits a return shot while playing against
Associated Press to which Nadal admitted in August. Ivo Karlovic of Croatia during their men’s singles match at
SHANGHAI (AP) — Novak that his Serbian rival was “I didn’t think I behaved the Shanghai Masters tennis tournament in Shanghai, China
Djokovic extended his win- “not in my league” at the bad at all out there today,” Wednesday, Oct. 14, 2015.
ning streak to 13 straight moment. Kyrgios said after Wednes-
matches with a swift 6-2, Still, Nadal sounded up- day’s loss. “I thought I was Associated Press
6-1 win over Martin Klizan beat after maintaining his good mentally. I showed
in the second round of composure against the emotion, but at the same
the Shanghai Masters on heavy-serving Karlovic, time I played great.”
Wednesday. who had 24 aces, and se- Nishikori said he tried to be
Rafael Nadal also ad- curing a close victory. more patient after strug-
vanced to the third round, “To win 7-6 in the third is gling with his serve early in
although in far more dif- very important victory for the match, winning just one
ficult fashion. The eighth- me, especially because I point on his second serve in
seeded Spanish player es- believe in the last tiebreak the opening set.
caped with a 7-5, 6-7 (4), I did not lose one point with “I didn’t have the best start
7-6 (4) win over Ivo Karlovic my serve,” he said. “That’s this match,” he said. “My
of Croatia in two hours, 43 because I was on self -con- serve wasn’t going in, es-
minutes. trol again of my emotions. pecially in the beginning. I
Djokovic is coming off his That’s the most important had three double faults in
sixth China Open title last thing for me today.” first game.”
week, where he only lost 18 Nadal faces another big In other matches, Andy
games in the entire tourna- server, Milos Raonic, in the Murray overcame five dou-
ment — the most dominant third round on Thursday, ble faults to defeat Steve
title run of his career. while Djokovic plays 15th- Johnson of the United
He picked up right where seeded Feliciano Lopez of States 6-2, 6-4, and Austra-
he left off in Shanghai, Spain. lia’s Bernard Tomic saved
fending off the only break In other matches, Kei Nishi- eight of nine break points
point he faced against Kli- kori overcame a stiff chal- he faced to upset seventh-
zan to win in 63 minutes. lenge from an emotional seeded David Ferrer of
Djokovic is aiming for his Nick Kyrgios to advance Spain 6-4, 6-2.
ninth title of the year and with a 1-6, 6-4, 6-4 victory.
his third at the Shanghai After winning the first set Tomic said he’s feeling in-
Masters. in 30 minutes, Kyrgios be-
“Considering the fact that gan to unravel at the end creasingly more confident
I’ve won so many matches of the second set when he
this year and tournaments, smacked a ball in frustra- than he was at the start
probably the best season of tion toward the baseline,
my life definitely, anywhere causing a line judge to of the year when his rank-
I go I’m confident,” he said. bend to avoid being hit.
“Especially towards the The Australian was as- ing dipped into the 70s. He
end of the season, know- sessed a code violation
ing that back in the previ- and dropped his serve at reached No. 20 last month
ous years I’ve played con- love, losing the set. Kyrgios
sistently well and was very then saved three match and is aiming to finish close
successful in the last couple points in the third set before
months of the season.” Nishikori finally closed it out. to the top 15 by the end of
Nadal, by comparison, is Kyrgios was already fined
struggling through one of $1,500 for an “audible ob- the season.
the most challenging years scenity” in his first-round
of his career. He hasn’t match in Shanghai. He “This is my best year,” he
won a Grand Slam title for faces a 28-day suspen-
the first time since 2004 and sion from the ATP tour if he said. “I’m working much
his ranking has dipped to reaches $5,000 in fines be-
No. 7. fore February after being harder. I’m a bit smarter
He’s also coming off a placed on probation for
rather one-sided defeat making derogatory com- and wiser.”
to Djokovic in the China ments to Stan Wawrinka
Also, fourth-seeded
Wawrinka defeated Vik-
tor Troicki of Serbia 7-6
(3), 6-3; fifth-seeded To-
mas Berdych of the Czech
Republic outlasted Jack
Sock 7-6 (3), 4-6, 6-4; No.
13-seeded John Isner of the
United States defeated Bel-
gium’s David Goffin 6-3, 7-6
(5); and No. 12 Kevin An-
derson beat Fabio Fognini
6-3, 7-6 (1).q
