Novak Djokovic makes winning return in Shanghai

The world number one is bidding to win the Shanghai tournament for a fourth time, and converted four out of five break points in securing his progress.

Italian Fognini contributed to his own downfall by throwing in seven double faults.

“I was just pleased to be back on the court, considering I skipped Beijing that I planned to play," said Djokovic.

"I had great memories and success in the past in this tournament, on this court.

“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.”

Serbia's 12-times Grand Slam winner will face Canadian Vasek Pospisil or Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov - who was a 6-4 6-4 winner over 14th seed Richard Gasquet in the first round - in the last 16 of an event where he has never failed to reach the semi-finals in six previous outings.

“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, said Djokovic.

“When I get on the court, of course I want to give my best and eventually try to win the match, but that comes as a consequence of how I feel and how I approach, how I prepare, just a general mindset and approach.”