\n<\/p>\n
The fourth-seeded Djokovic struggled to maintain a grip early in the second-round match and had to sprinkle sawdust on his hands to combat the humidity before prevailing 7-6 (2), 6-4.<\/p>\n
After breaking serve early in the second set, Djokovic had to fight off two break points in the final game before sealing victory with an ace – his 10th of the match.<\/p>\n
It was his first match since losing to Carlos Alcaraz<\/a> in the US Open semifinals.<\/p>\n “I struggled to find my rhythm from the baseline,” Djokovic said. “I [lacked] some matches — my last one was at the US Open — so I got a really tough opener against Marin, who when he is feeling the ball, is so dangerous and can beat anybody.<\/p>\n “He didn’t give me time to breathe, so I think I dug myself out of trouble with good serving, which obviously makes me happy.”<\/p>\n Djokovic next faces German qualifier Yannick Hanfmann<\/a>, who beat American Frances Tiafoe<\/a> 6-7 (9), 6-2, 6-1.<\/p>\n Sixth-seeded Ben Shelton<\/a>, who hadn’t played since suffering a left shoulder injury at the US Open, was beaten 6-2, 6-4 by David Goffin<\/a>.<\/p>\n Goffin broke serve not long after play resumed after a short rain suspension.<\/p>\n Earlier in the week, Shelton said that despite the five-week layoff, he still hoped to qualify for the ATP Finals in Turin, Italy beginning Nov. 9.<\/p>\n Shelton is currently sixth in the points race for Turin, with eight making the finals. But his loss Friday will put a dent in those ambitions.<\/p>\n The top-seeded players in Shanghai all received first-round byes. Fifth-seeded Taylor Fritz<\/a> was playing later Friday.<\/p>\n Jannik Sinner<\/a>, who won the China Open final in Beijing on Wednesday, is scheduled to play Saturday. Top-ranked Alcaraz, who beat Fritz in the Japan Open final, announced after his win in Tokyo that he would not play in Shanghai due to minor ailments.\n<\/div>\n SHANGHAI — Novak Djokovic launched his bid for a record-extending fifth title at the Shanghai Masters with a straight-sets victory over Marin Cilic on Friday in the Serbian’s first match since the US Open. The fourth-seeded Djokovic struggled to maintain a grip early in the second-round match and had to sprinkle sawdust on his hands … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4976,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4975","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Shanghai-Masters-Djokovic-advances-past-Cilic-Shelton-loses.jpeg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4975","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4975"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4975\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4977,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4975\/revisions\/4977"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/4976"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4975"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4975"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4975"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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