SHANGHAI, October 13, 2018

Borna Coric headlined Saturday’s semi-final action at the Rolex Shanghai Masters, knocking out top seed Roger Federer 6-4, 6-4. The 21-year-old from Croatia didn’t face a break point, capitalizing on two of his own chances to seal victory in one hour and 13 minutes.

Defending Champion out!@borna_coric is through to his first Masters 1000 final, defeating Roger Federer with a near flawless performance 6-4 6-4.#RolexSHMasters pic.twitter.com/7oE2zCD1Ne

— Tennis TV (@TennisTV) 13. Oktober 2018

“It’s absolutely there, you know. If not the best one, then it’s in top 2, top 3. I’m not sure. No, I mean, it’s really something special,” Coric commented after reaching the biggest final of his career.

“Like I said when I was coming here on this tournament, actually, my neck was a little bit stiff and I was actually a little bit thinking of even pulling out of the tournament. I was not playing well. I was not feeling well. And, you know, I didn’t really know how it’s gonna turn out. 

“Really I just came on the court with absolutely no pressure but really, really, like, zero pressure. I basically didn’t care, you know, and that’s why I think I played so good, you know, because I just said to myself, okay, I have nothing to lose. I did probably hundred times more than what I expected. So, you know, I just need to go out there and I just need to enjoy.

Earlier in the day, Novak Djokovic, who played the 1000th match of his career, defeated No. 4 seed Alexander Zverev 6-2, 6-1. The encounter lasted exactly one hour.

Mercedes Benz Fun Fact of the day

Sunday’s doubles final will feature the year-end No. 1 ATP Doubles Teams from the past two years: Jamie Murray and Bruno Soares (2016) against Lukasz Kubot and Marcelo Melo (2017), with the champions pocketing US$ 421,340 and 1,000 ranking points. Based on their results at the Rolex Shanghai Masters this week, both teams have qualified for the elite 8-team season-ending championship. Of the four players, Melo has enjoyed the most success in Shanghai, having previously made three finals (with three different partners), including two titles and a runner-up finish last year with Kubot.

RESULTS:

SEMI-FINAL SINGLES

[1] N. Djokovic (SRB) d [4] A. Zverev (GER) 62 61

[13] B. Coric (CRO) d [1] R. Federer (SUI) 64 64 

SEMI-FINAL DOUBLES

[3] L. Kubot (POL)/M. Melo (BRA) d [2] O. Marach (AUT)/M. Pavic (CRO) 62 75