Chasing his seventh China Open title, Novak Djokovic has booked his place in the semi-finals. The 39-year-old battled back from a set down to defeat top seed Alexander Zverev 4–6, 6–4, 6–4, extending his perfect record in Beijing to 32–0.
In a match that took 2 hours and 35 minutes, Zverev started fast, using his big serve and powerful shots to put Djokovic under pressure. Djokovic struggled on serve early and was broken in the first game, allowing Zverev to take the first set 6–4.
In the second set, Djokovic settled down and began serving with more control, while also making Zverev work harder on his service games. The set stayed close, but Djokovic found a way to break Zverev at the end and level the match at one set each.
The third set featured long rallies, strong serving, and pressure from both players. Zverev hit 19 aces during the match, compared with Djokovic’s four, but Djokovic was more consistent when it mattered.
At 5–4, Djokovic broke Zverev’s serve and then calmly served out the match to complete a hard-fought comeback.
Addressing the media and fans on court after the match, Djokovic said, “I had a terrible start. Two double faults at the beginning. It was quite cold and honestly, I didn’t feel warmed up, but my fault.
“I gave him an early break and then it was hard to come back in the first set. I had a couple of break points when he was serving for the set at 5-4, but didn’t use them, but I kind of felt already from midway through the first set that I was starting to get a good rhythm, at least one my serve and on serve plus one.”
