World No.1 Novak Djokovic kicked off his Nitto ATP Finals campaign on Monday. securing a dominant victory against first-time qualifier Diego Schwartzman.
The Serbian rallied from an early break in the first set to overcome the Argentine, cruising through to notch his 40th win of the season.
"The beginning of the match wasn’t that great for me," Djokovic said after the match. "He broke my serve in the third game and I managed to break back. It was a close encounter until I broke his serve at 4-3 and managed to close out the first set."
The top seed appeared more confident in the second set, as he dictated rallies with his forehand with frequent approaches to the net.
"In the second set, I started swinging through the ball a little more with a bit less hesitation from both corners," the 33-year old added. "I was very pleased with the way I played, especially in the second set.”
With both men being in Group Tokyo 1970, they still have to face Alexander Zverev and Daniil Medvedev to ensure qualification from the group. Each man is still very much alive in the hunt for a semifinal berth.
Back in 2007, it was my debut in Shanghai and I lost all three matches in the group… I think the format allows you really, even if you lose a match, to still have a chance to qualify for semi-finals,” said Djokovic. “You have plenty of motivation in terms of points, in terms of financial incentive. Every match that you win, you get to win 200 points, which is almost as much as winning an ATP 250 event. There is plenty of motivation for Diego. I'm sure that he wants to try to play better than he did today.”
Click here for live scores and up-to-date results of the ATP Finals.
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