World No.2 Novak Djokovic comes back from a set down to defeat Denis Shapovalov 4-6, 6-1, 7-6 in front of an animated crowd at the Ken Rosewell Arena in Sydney on Friday at the ATP Cup 2020.

In a major meltdown, Shapovalov also abused the exuberant Serbia crowd in the second set. With this victory, Serbia reaches the semifinals of the inaugural ATP Cup 2020 and will play Russia in the final four.

Shapovalov gave Novak Djokovic a run for his money

There was nothing to differentiate between the two in the set as the games went with the serve till 4-all. The set saw no breakpoints until the first eight games.

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It was the Canadian who struck the first blow after breaking Novak Djokovic to get a lead of 5-4. After missing the two break chances, Denis Shapovalov secured the first break with a nifty drop shot.

The 20-year-old then served out a tight set 6-4 after 51 minutes to get the command in the match.

Shapovalov abuses the vibrant Djokovic fans

Shapovalov continued to put pressure on the 16-time Grand Slam champion as the left-hander earned three break chances in the third game of the set. However, the Serbian held his nerve and saved the breakpoints to hold a crucial service game.

A mental lapse from the next-gen star in the next game resulted in the first break chance in the match for Djokovic. The resilient World No.2 sealed the break to get a 3-1 lead in the set. The Serbian fans in the crowd fired up after the break.

The Serbian crowd then took over and went wild after the Canadian while Djokovic was serving at 3-1. After the game, Canada’s captain Adriano Fuorivia and Shapovalov complained the chair umpire Carlos Bernardes about the crowd. However, in a heated exchange with Adriano, Carlos explained that he cannot do anything about the crowd.

The fans continued to call out and whistle during Shapovalov’s ball toss while he was serving at 1-4. In a major breakdown, Shapovalov also said “f**k you” to the crowd.

The chair umpire then insisted the fans to respect both the players. He said: “This is a tennis game. The most important thing between all of us is respect. If you don’t want to watch tennis, just go home.”

However, the Canadian lost concentration as he hit a double fault and two unforced errors to gift the game to Djokovic.

The Serb then served out the set 6-1 in just 39 minutes to level back the match at 1 set all.

Djokovic also received warning for crowd abuse

Shapovalov was back on track after taking medical timeout to ahead of the deciding set. Both the players started the set with a confident hold of serve.

Novak Djokovic also received a warning for language abuse form the chair umpire.

A double fault and a weak backhand from Shapovalov helped Djokovic get the break in the deciding set at 5-4. Djokovic also gave a bottle of water to the person in the crowd that was feeling bad.

Shapovalov then got the re-break to stay in the match at 5-all.

The match went to the deciding tiebreaker as both the players held their serves till 6-6. Djokovic dominated the tiebreaker as he won the tiebreaker 7-4 to seal the tie in 2 hours and 41 minutes.

Earlier, Dusan Lajovic of Serbia gave his team the lead after cruising past through Felix-Auger Aliassime 6-4, 6-2.