Novak Djokovic will attempt to continue his impressive start at the Shanghai Rolex Masters 2016 when he meets Canada's Vasek Pospisil in the third round of the tournament on Thursday.
Djokovic looks like his old self when he returned to the tennis scene, defeating Italy's Fabio Fognini in straight sets 6-3 6-3. The top seed Djokovic, who is coming off an elbow injury that forced him to skip the China Open, has not played a match since losing at the US Open, but proved he is ready to defend his crown at the Shanghai Masters.
"I was just pleased to be back on the court, considering I skipped Beijing that I planned to play. I had great memories and success in the past in this tournament, on this court," Djokovic said, reports the ATP's official website.
"I was just trying to focus on my game and things that I worked on the last couple of weeks... I believe things will progress as days go by."
Prior to the final event in the Asian Swing, Djokovic admitted he is going through some personal issues as he redefines the meaning of success in his tennis career. The 12-time Grand Slam winner said he wanted to enjoy playing tennis again and worry less about winning titles or maintaining his spot atop the world rankings.
"As I said before, it's very simple. I try to look at things from a different perspective, from a more human perspective rather than from a perspective of a professional tennis player," Djokovic said.
Djokovic will next face Pospisil, who defeated Grigor Dimitrov in a close match 7-5 7-6(2). Pospisil had a tough season, having entered the Shanghai Masters with only eight tour-level wins to his record this year. But claiming his first back-to-back match wins for the first time this season, the 26-year-old Canadian is poised for another remarkable display when he meets Djokovic in Round of 16.
"It's been a tough year. Quite a few things were going on. But I feel really happy to be back. I feel like my old self on the court again. My head's in the game and I'm playing well," Pospisil said.
Djokovic leads Pospisil by 3-0 in their FedEx ATP Head2Head career matchup. Their most recent meeting was in last year's Dubai Open, where Djokovic dismissed Pospisil in two straight sets.
The winner between Djokovic and Pospisil could face German Mischa Zverev or Spain's Marcel Granollers. Zverev cruised past Nick Kyrgios in the second round with a 6-3 6-1 win, while Granollers scored an upset over seventh seed Tomas Berdych with a tight victory 7-6(4) 7-6(1).
Meanwhile, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, last year's runner-up in the tournament, will face next generation star Alexander Zverev in the third round of the ATP 1000 Masters event in Shanghai.
Tsonga, who is coming off a knee injury sustained at the US Open, defeated Serb Janko Tipsarevic 6-3 7-6(6), while Zverev stunned Marin Cilic with a three-setter win 3-6 6-3 6-2. The two has yet to face each other in a tour-level singles match.
Live streaming info and score updates
Watch Novak Djokovic vs Vasek Pospisil live via TennisTV. Live scores will be available during match time at the ATP's official website.
Video courtesy: YouTube/ATPWorldTour