Federer edges out Nishikori, in semis

SHANGHAI: Roger Federer blazed into the Shanghai Masters semifinals with a 6-4, 7-6 (7/4) victory over Kei Nishikori as the Swiss great’s title defence belatedly caught fire on Friday. The 20-time Grand Slam champion and top seed will meet 13th seed Borna Coric on Saturday after the Croatian defeated unseeded Australian Matthew Ebden 7-5, 6-4.

“I saw Kei was playing extremely aggressive, especially towards the end of the second set,” said the Swiss world number two, who has been content with his form this week despite being pushed to three sets in his other two matches. “I knew I had to step it up too, and I was able to do it, so it’s a good feeling to have, no doubt about it.”

The other semi-final tees up Novak Djokovic against young German star Alexander Zverev, just the second time they will have met.

Djokovic and Zverev met on clay in the final of the Rome Masters in May last year, the 21-yearold German winning 6-4, 6-3.

Djokovic, who endured a turbulent last season with injury and off-court issues, said they were “both different players” now. “I wasn’t -- I feel like -- playing as well as I’m playing today,” he warned.

PLISKOVA WINS

TIANJIN: Top seed Karolina Pliskova overcame a slow start to put away Britain’s Katie Boulter 5-7, 6-0, 6-3 in the Tianjin Open quarter-finals on Friday, improving her chances of qualifying for the WTA Finals in Singapore. Pliskova, currently eighth in the Race to Singapore standings, is battling for one of the three available spots in the season-ending tournament starting on Oct. 21.

Earlier in the day, fourth seed Aryna Sabalenka was beaten 7-6(2), 7-6(5) by Swiss Timea Bacsinszky, which ended the Belarusian’s WTA Finals hopes.