Hubert Hurkacz had lost all eight of his previous matches against Novak Djokovic. On Friday night at the Qi Zhong Tennis Center he needed one break in each set, and 87 minutes, to win the ninth, 6-4, 6-3, in the second round of the Rolex Shanghai Masters.
The match was settled on the Hurkacz serve. He saved two break points to hold in the third game, according to the ATP Tour, and was largely in control from there, winning 82 percent of the points behind his first serve (36 of 44), per Infosys ATP Stats. Djokovic, who lifted his 102nd tour-level title in Beijing on Tuesday night, explained it in one sentence.
“If you lose your serve, it is enough to lose the match, once per set, and that is what happened,” Djokovic said. “It is very difficult to return his serve, almost impossible. So yeah, I did not adjust and it was a really tough draw for me, playing him in the first match.”
The ATP Tour reported that the 39-year-old appeared to struggle physically in his sixth match in 10 days. Hurkacz, who retired from his Beijing semifinal against Alex de Minaur with an adductor injury, came in fresher after beating James Duckworth in the first round with 19 aces.
“Definitely it was very important at the start to stay there with Novak, because if he gets ahead, he presents such a great level and it’s not easy to come back,” Hurkacz said. “Then towards the end of course I was feeling some nerves. It’s not my first time leading by a break in a set against Novak so I was trying to stay focused on my things, what I needed to do.”
The Pole. Hurkacz is playing Shanghai for the first time since he won the title in 2023 and has now won eight straight matches there. He reached the Chengdu final two weeks ago. According to the ATP Tour, he is now the fourth player with at least one hard-court win over each of Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Djokovic, after Andy Murray, Dominic Thiem and Alexander Zverev. His third-round opponent is Zhou Yi, the Chinese wild card ranked No. 277, who beat 24th seed Lorenzo Musetti 7-6 (7), 3-6, 7-6 (1) on Friday.
The schedule. “Beijing was great and a very early exit here but it is ok,” Djokovic said. “I had a great week in Beijing and I look forward to resting a little bit and get ready for the indoors.” On the season finale, he was direct: “I would like to [play the Nitto ATP Finals]. I am planning on only playing in Paris, so let’s see. Hopefully I can have a good result there.”
The ATP lists the Rolex Paris Masters in November as his next scheduled event. Djokovic is 19-7 this season, according to the Infosys ATP Win/Loss Index, with the Beijing title and a run to the Australian Open final, where he beat Jannik Sinner in the semifinals.
What it means for Turin. Djokovic is ninth in the PIF ATP Live Race To Turin, the ATP said after the match. The top seven in the Race after Paris qualify for the Nitto ATP Finals (15-22 November), and the eighth place goes to a current-year Grand Slam champion ranked between eighth and 20th if there is one. Zverev and Carlos Alcaraz are already in. Sinner, second in the Race, has ended his season with a right knee injury; how a withdrawal opens a place to the next man is set out in our ATP Finals alternates explainer.
The men around him did not stand still. Flavio Cobolli, fifth in the Race and needing the Shanghai title to qualify here, lost his opener 6-1, 4-6, 6-3 to Adrian Mannarino with 42 unforced errors. Ben Shelton, fourth, beat Daniel Altmaier 6-3, 7-6 (6) on his 24th birthday and seals his place in Turin if he beats Arthur Gea next. Daniil Medvedev, eighth, came from a set down to beat Jan-Lennard Struff on Saturday. Djokovic, by his own plan, has one tournament left to answer them. The full qualification picture is in our Race to Turin guide.
