Djokovic beaten by Tsitsipas in Shanghai Masters quarterfinals

Shanghai, Oct. 11 (IANS): Sixth-seeded Stefanos Tsitsipas of Greece recorded his first win over current world No. 1 at the ATP Shanghai Masters here on Friday as he beat the defending champion Novak Djokovic 3-6, 7-5, 6-3 to reach the semi-finals.

The 21-year-old also secured his debut at the ATP Finals in London next month after this biggest win of his career.

Tsitsipas will play third seed Daniil Medvedev of Russia in the semi-finals after the 23-year-old saw off Italy’s Fabio Fognini, the No. 10 seed, 6-3, 7-6 (4) in 86 minutes. Medvedev now has a Tour-leading 57 wins this season and produced a 27-3 match record since July.

Djokovic, who won the Japan Open last week, has never failed to make the semi-finals stage in Shanghai and has won the title four times, in 2012, 2013, 2015 and 2018. But this time, his semi-finals streak was ended by Tsitsipas.

“He had the high-quality tennis and he played very well after his serve,” the 32-year-old Serbian said of the world No. 7 Tsitsipas. “I didn’t make him defend enough. I just gave him enough time to really dictate the play from back of the court and he deserved to win.”

Tsitsipas overcame a slow start in the match, losing the opening three games in seven minutes, only to find his powerful serve in the second set when he improved his first service winning rate to 95 percent.

In the decider, the Greek broke at the third breakpoint in the fourth game to go up by 3-1, before finally sealing the victory 6-3.

Zverev knocks out Federer in Shanghai Masters quarterfinals

Shanghai, Oct. 11 (IANS): Swiss superstar Roger Federer followed Serbian Novak Djokovic out of the Shanghai Masters quarterfinals after a three-set defeat of 6-3, 6-7 (7), 6-3 to Germany’s Alexander Zverev here on Friday.

The 22-year-old fifth seed will face Austria’s Dominic Thiem or Matteo Berrettini of Italy in the semi-finals on Saturday.

Federer, the champion in Shanghai in 2014 and 2017, was given a point penalty after losing his temper and twice hitting the ball out the court in the decider, when he was down by 3-0 and 30-15 in the fourth game.

But the 20-time Grand Slam winner had already shown his resistance in the second set as he saved five match points to force a deciding set.

Since Greek talent Stefanos Tsitsipas and Russia’s Daniil Medvedev have set their clash in the semi-finals, no matter whether Thiem or Berrettini win in the last quarterfinal, this year’s Shanghai Masters will mark the first time in ATP Tour Masters history that all the four semi-finalists were born in the 1990s.