Novak Djokovic hopes to make amends for a rare Grand Slam defeat when he takes on either Marco Cecchinato or Hyeon Chung at the Shanghai Masters on Thursday.
The Serb has enjoyed a stellar second half of 2018, winning Wimbledon and the US Open and also completing the set of Masters titles in Cincinnati.
It was in marked contrast to the opening months of the year which saw Djokovic struggle, with defeats by Chung at the Australian Open and Cecchinato at the French Open among his disappointing results.
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“Both of these players won against me, the last time we met,” Djokovic told atpworldtour.com.
“I think I’m [a] completely different player than I was in first, five, six months of the year. Hopefully the outcome can be different, as well.
“I’m very grateful to play on a high level. I think that I’m very close to my best, you know, and [my] ‘best’ changes day to day.
“I can always strive to be the best I can be on that given day. Today’s performance was pretty close to that.”
Impressive start from @DjokerNole in Shanghai ????
Tops Chardy in an entertaining finish 6-3 7-5.#RolexSHMasters pic.twitter.com/4c3jf2lp2n
— Tennis TV (@TennisTV) October 9, 2018
Djokovic beat Jeremy Chardy 6-3 7-5 in his opening match on Tuesday to take his current winning streak to 14 matches.
His current form means a return to the year-end world No.1 ranking is possible, a feat that would see Djokovic enter the record books as no player has ever risen from as low as 22nd, as he was in May, to No.1 by the end of the year.
“I am really glad that I put myself in a position to compete for No. 1 of the world,” he said.
“And maybe four, five months ago, that was looking a little bit far from reach, but with the recent results, I put myself in a pretty decent position to fight for No. 1, year-end No. 1.”
Top seed Roger Federer will begin his Shanghai campaign against Russia’s Daniil Medvedev on. Wednesday.
Fifth seed Marin Cilic and sixth seed Dominic Thiem suffered surprise defeats on Tuesday, to Nicolas Jarry and Matt Ebden respectively.
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