SHANGHAI: Novak Djokovic powered through to the last 16 of the Shanghai Masters on Tuesday, steamrolling Italian Flavio Cobolli 6-1, 6-2 in just over an hour.
The four-time Shanghai champion completely dominated 30th-ranked Cobolli, breaking him in the second and sixth games of the first set.
"I can't complain about anything in the game, I was able to play aggressively," Djokovic said.
"I'm glad to be progressing through a tournament that has meant a lot to me in my career."
Fans waved Serbian flags and screamed in delight when the former world number one wrote part of his name in Chinese characters on a camera lens at the end of the match.
Djokovic will next play Russian Roman Safiullin, who upset American Frances Tiafoe in three tight sets.
"I'm glad to finally play a match after three days of rain, it's been a hassle for a lot of players," Djokovic said.
The last 16 has almost fallen into place after days of schedule disruption due to rain.
Ben Shelton dispatched Spain's Roberto Carballes Baena 6-3, 6-4 to set up a Shanghai rematch with world number one Jannik Sinner of Italy.
The American knocked Sinner out of the tournament at the same stage last year.
"(I have) great memories from that match last year, I probably watched the tape of that a couple times so far this year, but, yeah, I'm really looking forward to it, that will be fun," Shelton said.
Sinner's chief rival Carlos Alcaraz, who beat him in the China Open final last week, will face veteran Gael Monfils.
The 38-year-old Frenchman defeated his younger and higher-ranked compatriot Ugo Humbert 7-6 (9/7), 2-6, 6-1.
Stefanos Tsitsipas recovered from a lapse in concentration in the second set to beat France's Alexandre Muller 6-3, 7-5.
The 26-year-old will meet world number five Daniil Medvedev in the next round.
"(Medvedev) likes courts like this. I feel like I'm getting better with time... What is missing is trying to get a good win under my belt," said the Greek, acknowledging his uneven recent form.
"In the past, I might have said some mean stuff about (Medvedev's) game, but... I think I was completely wrong in that. There's a lot of interesting things in his game that he brings that are very different from other players."
World number 10 Grigor Dimitrov is through after beating Australia's Alexei Popyrin 7-6 (7-5), 6-2.
The Bulgarian will play Czech teenager Jakub Mensik, who already ended one top 10 player's hopes when he sent Russia's Andrey Rublev home last week. - AFP