Djokovic notches 350th Masters 1000 win in Shanghai victory over Isner

World No. 1 Novak Djokovic secured his 350th career match win at the ATP Masters 1000 level on Thursday, following his 7-5, 6-3 victory over John Isner in the third round of the Shanghai Rolex Masters. As a result, the 32-year-old joined Big 3 members Rafael Nadal (381) and Roger Federer (380 prior to Thursday) in reaching the Masters 1000 milestone.

Djokovic dropped just three points on serve in the opening set, as Isner only managed to get 46 percent of his opponent’s serves back in play. The four-time champion broke Isner at love to take a one-set lead and continued to frustrate the American with his deep, low returning, quickly moving out to a 3-0 lead in the second. He wrapped up the win in 75 minutes to increase his head-to-head series lead to 10-2 over the 34-year-old.

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The top seed is seeking his 34th Masters 1000 title, which would bring him to within one trophy of Nadal’s current record-setting pace of 35. A title run would also turn up the heat in Djokovic's battle for year-end No. 1 with the Spaniard, who started the week with a 1,460 point lead on his rival. Djokovic has won the past 14 sets he’s played after triumphing last week on his debut in Tokyo, which yielded 500 points toward closing his gap with Nadal.

In the quarterfinals, Djokovic will face No. 6 seed Stefanos Tsitsipas, who took out Hubert Hurkacz, 7-5, 3-6, 7-6 (5).