Federer bites the dust in Shanghai Masters semi-finals
Coric sets up title-clash with Djokovic after giantkilling act
Borna Coric upset defending champion Roger Federer to face Novak Djokovic in the Shanghai Masters final today.
Coric earned passage to the final by taking down the topseeded Federer 6-4, 6-4 in the semi-finals yesterday.
“It was one of the best matches of my life,” Coric said.
The Croatian gave himself a third career shot at Djokovic. In their previous meetings, Coric failed to take a set off of Djokovic.
The soon-to-be-No. 2-ranked Djokovic booked his final appointment after crushing No. 5 Alexander Zverev 6-2, 6-1.
Federer has won three titles this year — the Australian Open, Rotterdam, Stuttgart — but all of them were earned before the start of Wimbledon in July.
Coric finished off Federer in style with the final two points being an ace and a sizzling forehand crosscourt winner.
Coric didn’t offer Federer a break point opportunity, while managing to break Federer’s serve in the opening game of both sets. In all, Federer presented Coric with seven beak point possibilities.
Coric, who is 2-2 against Federer, also beat the 20-time Grand Slam champion in their last outing at Halle in June.
Djokovic’s win over Zverev and Federer’s demise guaranteed he will move up from No. ■ 3 to No. 2 in the world rankings tomorrow.
Djokovic’s serve has not been broken this week in 37 service games. He never offered Zverev a break point opportunity, and broke the German’s serve on four of six offerings. By the time Zverev was 6-2, 3-1 down, his emotions got the better of him as he hit a routine backhand into the net. He banged his racket to the ground, then gave it another swipe before tossing the mangled implement into the crowd.
Djokovic posted only nine unforced errors to 24 for Zverev.
“I did everything I intended to do on my end,” Djokovic said. Djokovic is targeting his 72nd career title today. He has won all three of his previous finals in Shanghai. Djokovic played his 1,000th career match against Zverev and holds an impressive 827-173 win-loss record.
“I wouldn’t be so dedicated to this sport if I didn’t believe that I can achieve great heights. But you always have to kind of pinch yourself, particularly at this stage of my career, and be grateful because in the end of the day, I did have an awesome career so far that has blessed me with a lot of great achievements.”