Coric beats Federer again, meets Djokovic in Shanghai final

Borna Coric upset defending champion Roger Federer and will face Novak Djokovic in the Shanghai Masters final on Sunday.

Coric earned passage to the final by taking down the top-seeded Federer 6-4 6-4 in the semifinals on Saturday.

“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. It extended Djokovic’s match winning streak to 17 straight, and he is 26-1 in matches played since the start of Wimbledon.

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Coric, who said he almost skipped the event because of neck pain, finished off Federer in style with the final two points being an ace and a sizzling forehand crosscourt winner.

“Today, really, I just came on the court with absolutely no pressure,” Coric said. “I basically didn’t care, and that’s why I played so good.”

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.

We *lob* what you did with that @borna_coric…#RolexSHMasters pic.twitter.com/uvhGK6Twcm

— Tennis TV (@TennisTV) October 13, 2018

“He had more punch on the ball. He served better,” Federer said. “I got off to a bad start in both sets. That combination is plenty here in Shanghai with fast conditions.”

Coric, who is 2-2 against Federer, also beat the 20-time Grand Slam champion in their last outing at Halle in June. He also led 7-5 4-2 and by a break in the third set of their Indian Wells semifinal in March before narrowly getting pipped.

Federer, who won three titles this year but all before the start of Wimbledon in July, was asked several times about his schedule for the remainder of the year, as well as for next year. He said he couldn’t offer any specifics but did offer a guarantee regarding 2019.

“I wish I could tell you all these answers, but I really don’t know. But I will play tennis next year, yes,” he said.

Djokovic’s win over Zverev and Federer’s demise guaranteed he will move up from No. 3 to No. 2 in the world rankings on Monday, which has him swapping positions with Federer, but still trailing No.1 Rafael Nadal.

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. “It’s all working and it’s been a couple of perfect matches.”

Djokovic is targeting his 72nd career title here on Sunday. He has won all three of his previous finals in Shanghai.

Djokovic’s match against Zverev was the 1,000th of his career; he 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,” Djokovic said. “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.”

A win on Sunday would deliver a fourth title for the season to Djokovic, beside Wimbledon and the US Open.