Coric Upsets Federer in Shanghai Semifinals – 21-year-old Borna Coric upset Roger Federer 6-4 6-4 in the semifinals of the Shanghai Rolex Masters on Saturday, preventing the Swiss maestro from making his fourth final at the ATP Masters 1000 tournament. The young Croatian broke serve in the opening game of each set, setting the tone early as it helped him maintain a one break lead to the end of the first set and toward clinching the match. While the 37-year-old Swiss was not particularly poor across his match statistics, with eight aces and no double faults, he won only 50% of points on his second serve, and was unable to create any break point opportunities. Despite the loss, the 2-time Shanghai champion was upbeat, as he felt his game has made strides after the US Open.
“I must say I felt overall actually pretty good. So I’m happy about that,” Federer said. “It’s definitely something I can build on now for Basel and then for London and maybe Paris. I’m happy how the body has felt this week.”
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“I’m actually happy. I feel like I’m explosive out there, returning well. Serving, I think, it’s okay, could be even a little bit better. I don’t think I played a match where I didn’t get broken, so that’s something a bit more unusual for me,” said Federer, who has already guaranteed his spot at the Nitto ATP Finals. “But regardless, I think the court allowed for great ball striking. I felt like I got some great rhythm, whereas in Cincinnati I came out of the tournament, I was, like, ‘I don’t know where my game is. It’s the finals. Not bad. But I couldn’t tell you if I’m hitting the ball well or not’.”
“He didn’t give me many chances on his serve, and for me to stay with him, I should have maybe done a better job on my own serve,” Federer said. “But then again, it wasn’t bad either. And then in the rallies, I thought he had more punch than me. Maybe it’s a lot of tennis this week, but quite honestly, I’m happy how I’m playing… This was a good week again. I’m happy about my reaction after the US Open.”