Novak Djokovic came from a set down on Sunday to beat French Open and US Open champion Alexander Zverev 4-6, 6-4, 6-4 and reach the China Open semi-finals.
The 39-year-old Serbian has now won 32 consecutive matches in Beijing, the best winning start by a man at a single tour-level event in the Open Era.
Djokovic has moved past Rafael Nadal, who won his first 31 matches at the French Open. He is already a record six-time China Open champion and had won all 29 of his previous matches at the tournament. This year marks his first return to Beijing since 2015, when he beat Nadal in the final to claim his sixth title.
Moreso, it was not the easiest of starts for Djokovic.
Meeting Zverev for the first time in nearly 16 months, Djokovic struggled early as the German’s power put him under pressure. He dropped his serve early and could not take advantage of two break points when Zverev served for the first set at 5-4.
Zverev took the opening set, but Djokovic gradually found his rhythm and refused to let his opponent pull away.
The turning point came late in the second set when Djokovic broke Zverev at 5-4 to level the match. The third set was equally tight, with little separating both players until Djokovic broke again at 5-4 to seal the victory.
The win once again showed Djokovic’s ability to produce his best tennis under pressure, despite a season affected by physical problems.
Speaking after the match, Djokovic admitted he made a poor start.
“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,” he said.
“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 on my serve and on serve plus one.”
Djokovic also spoke about what continues to motivate him at this stage of his career.
“To be honest, these are the kind of moments that I still play for, compete for. The motivation is big obviously when you are feeling good and competing at par with the best players in the world, in front of 15,000 people of course.
“These are the kind of moments that define dreams, I think, of every tennis player. It’s been a struggle this year, to be honest, for different reasons, but I’m still there, still grinding, still making the youngsters work for their money. I’m just glad to push it through.”
The victory moves Djokovic closer to a seventh China Open title and his first trophy of the year. It also denied Zverev another opportunity to strengthen his bid for the world No. 1 ranking.
Djokovic is now just the third man in ATP history, since 1973, to record a top-three win after turning 39, joining Ken Rosewall and Jimmy Connors.
Next up for Djokovic is a semi-final clash with Daniil Medvedev, who earlier defeated Francisco Cerundolo 7-6 (7-4), 6-3.
