Djokovic, Federer, Thiem knocked out at ATP Shanghai Masters

SHANGHAI - 21-year-old Stefanos Tsitsipas, 22-year-old Alexander Zverev, 23-year-old Matteo Berrettini and Daniil Medvedev - they are the four semifinalists at the 2019 ATP Shanghai Masters and the four talents have made the history in ATP Tour history here on Friday as it is the first time that all the last-four players in a Masters-level tournament are born in 1990s.

The sixth seed Tsitsipas of Greece came from a set down to beat world No 1 Novak Djokovic 3-6, 7-5, 6-3 to set a semifinal clash against Medvedev, who defeated Fabio Fognini, the No 10 seed, 6-3, 7-6 (4) to advance. Tsitsipas also secured his debut at the ATP Finals in London next month after this biggest win of his career while Medvedev now has a Tour-leading 57 wins this season and produced a 27-3 match record since July.

Germany's Zverev beat 20-time Grand Slam winner Roger Federer 6-3, 6-7(7), 6-3 and the fifth seed will face Berrettini of Italy in the other semifinals on Saturday. Berrettini, seeded 11th, dispatched Austria's Dominic Thiem 7-6 (8), 6-4 in the last quarterfinal on Friday to secure a place in the last four.

"I mean, they're knocking on the door big time, the young guys," Federer said after his defeat to Zverev. "It's exciting. They're great. It's really open now, I think, for the finish of this tournament."

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 when asked about the penalty point, the Swiss great was unwilling to talk about too much.

"So you could write on Twitter, you mean?" the 38-year-old answered, "No, it would be nice to write something nice once also about the game. Next question."

Djokovic, who won the Japan Open last week, has never failed to make the semifinals stage in Shanghai and has won the title four times, in 2012, 2013, 2015 and 2018. But this time, his semifinals 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.

"It's the best comeback that I have ever had probably," Tsitsipas said after the match.

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