By Richard Pagliaro | Friday, October 14, 2016
Novak Djokovic rallied from a set and a break down to defeat qualifier Mischa Zverev and reach his seventh straight Shanghai semifinal.
Photo credit: Getty
The world's top two took steps toward a Shanghai showdown on Sunday.
Second-ranked Andy Murray struck with control and played with command dismissing David Goffin, 6-2, 6-2.
Watch: Sock's Outrageous Tweener Lob
Murray hit eight aces, won 28 of 31 first-serve points and denied all five break points he faced in extending his winning streak to eight matches.
The Beijing champion converted four of 15 break points raising his record against the 11th-seeded Belgian to 5-0. Murray advanced to his 11th semifinal of the season where he will meet Gilles Simon.
The 32nd-ranked Simon applied his speed and counter-punching skills shrewdly rallying from a set and a break down to edge Jack Sock, 4-6, 6-4, 7-6 (5). Sock served for the match up 5-4 in the tie break, but Simon answered with three straight points to seal a high-quality thriller in two hours, 40 minutes.
Murray and top-seeded Novak Djokovic, who have combined to win five of the last seven Shanghai Rolex Masters championships, are on a collision course for their 35th career clash and first since the French Open final.
Down a set and a break, world No. 1 Djokovic rallied past 110th-ranked qualifier Mischa Zverev, 3-6, 7-6 (4), 6-3.
Djokovic committed four of his six double faults in a sluggish opening set.
Facing a one-set, 2-0 deficit, Djokovic calmed his mind and tuned up his game by humming a tune to himself.
"Instead of the occasional tantrum that I used to have, I hope it's behind me, so I would switch that vibration and transform it into a tune," Djokovic said. "I'm trying to remember, which one was it? It wasn't any mantra. It was a famous song, actually. I was using it to just forget about my mistake, previous mistake. And it worked, I hope."
Zverev, who played high-quality tennis for much of the first two sets, came a bit unraveled in the second-set tie break. Djokovic jumped out to a 4-0 lead and never looked back taking the breaker to level the match.
"It was the most entertaining match for me of the tournament, definitely," Djokovic said. "Had to dig out, dig myself out of the hole. He was the better player for most of the first part of the match."
The defending champion's two hour, 21-minute victory sent him into his seventh Shanghai semifinal where he will play Roberto Bautista Agut.
The 15th-seeded Spaniard stopped 2015 finalist Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, 6-3, 6-4.
Bautista Agut won 18 of 25 points played on Tsonga's second serve and broke the ninth-seeded Frenchman four times in the 72-minute match.
Continuing his quest for a fourth Shanghai title, Djokovic carries a 5-0 career record against Bautista Agut into the semifinals, including wins at Roland Garros and Madrid earlier this season. Djokovic has won seven of eight sets the pair have played on hard court.