Roger Federer admitted he lacked “punch” after he was turfed out of the Shanghai Masters semifinals on Saturday by 13th-seeded Borna Coric.
The Croatian stunned the Swiss great 6-4, 6-4 in what was an unusually error-strewn performance from the 20-time Grand Slam champion.
The 21-year-old Coric will face Novak Djokovic in Sunday’s final after the Serb thrashed Alexander Zverev 6-2, 6-1, leapfrogging Federer to World No. 2.
Federer has not been at his best all week, dropping sets in the two opening matches of his wobbly title defence. The 37-year-old top seed was more like his old self on Friday, defeating eighth seed Kei Nishikori in two high-quality sets.
But, he made a slow start against Coric, ranked World No. 19, getting broken in the first game. There was a subtle shake of the head when Federer similarly lost his serve at the start of the second set.
In contrast, Coric — who is into his first Masters 1000 final — was largely untroubled on his serve.
Ruthless Djokovic
Celebrating his 1,000th match in style, 14-time Grand Slam winner Djokovic was clinical against a shell-shocked Zverev.
The 31-year-old is in imperious form and this was his 17th ATP victory in a row, as he taught the rising German star a lesson.
The 21-year-old Zverev made an iffy start, beginning his first service game with a double-fault.
The World No. 5 — who beat Djokovic in their only previous meeting, last year in the Rome Masters final — recovered his poise for a time.
The first set went with serve, and some big serves at that, until Djokovic grabbed the break to go 4-2 up.
Zverev threatened to unravel and conceded the set in barely 30 minutes after landing a routine smash into the net, to gasps from the arena.
The fourth seed, who is yet to win a Grand Slam despite his undoubted talent, angrily threw his racquet at the start of the second set as Djokovic ramped up the pressure.
An increasingly exasperated Zverev issued more punishment to his racquet at 3-1 down, earning a code violation and tossing the battered piece into the crowd.
