Roger Federer blazed into the Shanghai Masters semi-finals with a 6-4, 7-6 (7/4) victory over Kei Nishikori as the Swiss great's title defence belatedly caught fire on Friday.
The 20-time Grand Slam champion and top seed will meet 13th seed Borna Coric on Saturday after the Croatian defeated unseeded Australian Matthew Ebden 7-5, 6-4.
The other semi-final tees up Novak Djokovic against young German star Alexander Zverev, just the second time they will have met.
The 37-year-old Federer was forced to battle through the first two matches of his title defence, first to Daniil Medvedev and then Roberto Bautista Agut.
But he put Nishikori under the cosh immediately, breaking the eighth seed in the first game of both sets, though the Japanese did well to recover and force a second-set tie break.
Federer had to play catch-up in the tie break and said afterwards that he was relieved to avoid another three-setter.
"I saw Kei was playing extremely aggressive, especially towards the end of the second set," said the Swiss world number two, who has been content with his form this week despite being pushed to three sets in his other two matches.
"I knew I had to step it up too, and I was able to do it, so it's a good feeling to have, no doubt about it." - Djokovic wary of Zverev -
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