Alexander Zverev was up against Novak Djokovic “at his very best” at the China Open, but the world No 2 believes “it’s a loss that I could have avoided”.
Djokovic turned back the clock as he produced one of his finest performances in recent years to defeat the top seed 4-6, 6-4, 6-4 in the quarter-final in Beijing as he “barely missed” from the baseline.
Despite the tennis great’s incredible record at the tournament – he started with a 31-0 record as he had won the China Open on his six previous appearances – Zverev was the slight favourite due to Djokovic’s poor recent form.
The 24-time Grand Slam failed to win a single match during the recent North American hard-court swing while he was also far from his best during his wins over Nuno Borges and Yunchaokete Bu in the first two rounds.
But the Djokovic of old turned up for the Zverev match as he saved three out of four break points – including a crucial one late in the second set – and broke the world No 2’s serve twice.
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“I think his serving today was standing out a lot. I think he got out of a lot of tough situations, especially in the second and third set, with serve,” Zverev explained.
“I think that his baseline game was basically the way it was five years ago. I mean, he barely missed. It was very, very flat, very through the court a lot.
“I think, yeah, probably either the best or second-best match he played this year. I think this one and the one with Jannik in Australia, those matches stand out. I think it was very, very different level than we saw in the last couple of months from him.”
Djokovic’s serve got him out of trouble in that crucial ninth game of the second set as Zverev had an opportunity to take 5-4 lead at 30-40, but he held firm and then broke in the next game.
While Djokovic remains on course to win a seventh China Open title, Zverev will switch focus to the Shanghai Masters where he is once again on a collision course with the Serbian as they could meet in the semi-final.
“I think I had a tough one here, for sure. It’s a loss that I could have avoided. I had chances to win this match,” he said.
“But I think Novak was at his very best today. Going to trust my abilities in Shanghai. Hopefully I can play even better there and definitely have a better result there.”
