MELBOURNE, January 19, 2019

Novak Djokovic secured his post-Australian Open World No. 1 ranking, as he edged past No. 25 seed Denis Shapovalov of Canada 6-3, 6-4, 4-6, 6-0 on Rod Laver Arena. The 31-year-old from Serbia, who has not lost to a lefthander since falling to Rafael Nadal in the final at 2014, broke the youngster’s serve eight times to secure victory in two hours and 22 minutes.

If Djokovic had failed to advance to the fourth round and Nadal had won the first Grand Slam of the season, the Spaniard would have returned to the top spot of the ATP-Rankings.

“Denis played well toward the end of the third, I made some unforced errors … he showed some quality and showed why he’s going to be one we’ll be seeing in the future,” Djokovic said.

Further read: Saturday AO Day Session 

Next up for Djokovic will be Daniil Medvedev. The 22-year-old Russian defeated No. 21 seed David Goffin of Belgium 6-2, 7-6(3), 6-3 on Margaret Court Arena. Medvedev finished the encounter after two hours and one minute.

Djokovic leads the head-to-head series with the young gun 2-0, both coming in 2017 in Eastbourne and at the Davis Cup World Group stage.