Novak Djokovic (Srb) vs. Denis Shapovalov (Can) – Score prediction (9.10.2019)

Overview.

Top seed Novak Djokovic kickstarts his title-defense campaign in Shanghai Masters on Wednesday. He won the title here in 2018 without dropping a set, which includes a couple of impressive wins over Alexander Zverev in the semifinal and Borna Coric in the championship match. Novak Djokovic prepared for this big campaign by competing in Tokyo last week, where he won the 76th title of his career (and fourth of the 2019 season) without dropping a set, defeating the likes of John Millman and David Goffin.

It was vital for the Serbian to get some wins under his belt, considering he retired from his round of 16 match in the US Open a few weeks ago and later admitted to feeling the pain on shoulders before entering ATP Tokyo. World #1 Novak Djokovic has got a terrific record in Shanghai Masters, having won the title four times and reached at least the semifinal of this tournament during all his previous eight appearances. Overall, he has played 36 matches in Shanghai and managed to win 32 of them.

The reigning champion of the Australian Open and Wimbledon, Novak Djokovic suffered his earliest defeat of the season in a Masters 1000 event in Indian Wells this March, where he suffered a huge upset at the hands of Philipp Kohlschreiber in the third round.
Denis Shapovalov avoided his third consecutive first-round exit from Shanghai Masters and made his mark in this tournament by defeating fellow North American Frances Tiafoe in the first round on Monday, 6-4 6-2.

Former world #20 Denis Shapovalov made his way to the semifinal in Miami Open in March but lost all his recent three second-round matches at this level against Novak Djokovic in Rome, Dominic Thiem in Montreal and Lucas Pouille in Cincinnati. Though the Canadian has improved his form and delivered encouraging results in the second half of 2019, he is currently on a seven-match losing streak against top-five players and can’t see him stopping his run against the world #1 Novak Djokovic, who leads the H2H series 2-0 (on the main tour).

Match Info.

Competition: ATP – SINGLES: Shanghai (China), hard – 1/16-finals
Start: 9.10.2019, 10:30 UTC.