Novak Djokovic lined up a potential title showdown with Roger Federer after dismantling a shell-shocked Alexander Zverev 6-2, 6-1 on Saturday to surge into the Shanghai Masters final.
The 20-time Grand Slam winner and reigning champion Federer plays 13th seed Borna Coric of Croatia in Saturday’s other semi-final.
Serbia’s Djokovic, 31, is in imperious form, winning 16 ATP matches in a row coming into the clash with Zverev, a rising star of tennis.
The third-ranked Djokovic taught Zverev a lesson.
The 21-year-old German made an iffy start, beginning his first service game with a double-fault.
The world number five -- who beat 14-time Grand Slam champion 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 young German, 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.
{{/usCountry}}The young German, 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.
{{/usCountry}}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.