The 21-year-old Coric will face Novak Djokovic in Sunday’s final after the Serb thrashed Alexander Zverev 6-2, 6-1, leapfrogging Federer to number two in the world rankings.

The 20-time Grand Slam champion Federer has not been at his brilliant best all week, dropping sets in the two opening matches of his wobbly title defence.

The 37-year-old top seed was more like his old self on Friday, defeating eighth seed Kei Nishikori of Japan 6-4, 7-6 (7/4).

But he made a slow start against Coric, ranked 19 in the world, getting broken in the first game in an error-strewn performance.

There was a subtle shake of the head when Federer similarly lost his serve at the start of the second set.

In contrast, Coric — who is into his first Masters 1000 final — was largely untroubled on his serve.

Federer won the Australian Open at the start of this year but has had a mediocre season by his sky-high standards.

He exited the US Open in the last 16 at the hands of unheralded Australian John Millman, ranked 55th, and only made the quarter-finals at Wimbledon.

Coric, who has only two career titles to his name, has now beaten Federer twice — the previous time was in the final at Halle this year.

Celebrating his 1,000 match in style, the 14-time Grand Slam winner was clinical as he lined up a potential title showdown on Sunday with reigning champion Roger Federer.

Top seed Federer plays 13th seed Borna Coric of Croatia in the other semi-final.

Djokovic will be up a place to second in the world — overtaking 20-time Grand Slam champion Federer — when the rankings are released on Monday.

He is desperate to take injured Rafael Nadal’s number one spot before the year is out, and on this evidence, he will.

The 31-year-old Serbian is in imperious form and this was his 17th ATP victory in a row, as he taught rising German star Zverev a harsh lesson.

Djokovic, who had elbow surgery in February but recovered to win Wimbledon and then the US Open last month, said: “Being number two after this tournament is also a great achievement, considering the first four, five months of the year and considering I had the surgery.

“And where I was about four months ago and where I am today is quite an extreme opposite.

“I’m just cherishing that achievement and every moment spent on the court.”

The 21-year-old Zverev made an iffy start, beginning his first service game with a double-fault.

The world number five — who beat 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 fourth seed, 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.

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.

Zverev was dismissed brutally in exactly one hour.

He called it a “weird” match and said he was never close to his best.

But he had fulsome praise for Djokovic, saying: “He’s probably the best player in the world right now.

“He’s definitely at the highest level he’s maybe ever been, or maybe equal to it.”

Sharma, who burst onto the scene with wins in Joburg and Maybank Championship on the European Tour earlier in the season, moved to 19-under par 197, catching up with joint overnight leaders Gary Woodland of the US and Australia’s Marc Leishman, who both came in with 67 each.

The resurgent South African Louis Oosthuizen (65), who has recently been plagued with back injuries, and Bronson Burgoon (67) of the US, the surprise package of the tournament, were tied for fourth place at 17-under par.

American 2009 Open champion Stewart Cink shot the lowest round of the day, a nine-under par 63, to move to tied seventh place at 15-under par along with five others, while his compatriot Austin Cook (68) was the lone man in sixth place at 200.

Playing in the leader group, it was world number 24 Leishman who made the first move, starting with birdies on his first two holes and an eagle on the third. But after making the turn in 30, he struggled on the back nine and came back in 37 shots.

Sharma was consistent on both halves. He saved crunch pars on the eighth hole, where he chipped in, and the par-4 12th, where he extricated himself from the third fairway and made a gutsy up-and-down. But he gave himself several birdie chances and converted seven of them. His only bogey came on the par-3 15th hole.

– ‘Foot on the pedal’ –

Sharma, who is trying to become the first Asian champion of the tournament, said three birdies in the first five holes and his par save on the eight were crucial.

“I think it’s always important to get off to a good start, especially on this course where everyone’s just going low. You have to have your foot on the pedal from the first hole and I was happy that I could make a few birdies of my own in the first five holes,” said Sharma, who led after the second and third rounds of the WGC-Mexico Championship earlier in the year before finishing tied ninth.

Leishman, who was six-under par for his last eight holes on Friday, moved to 10-under par for 11 holes after three on Saturday. And even though the back nine did not go as per plans, the three-time PGA Tour champion was not giving up his chances.

“(I’m) happy with the round – gave myself a good chance tomorrow, so hopefully I can be hot like I was that first 10 holes today and see how we end up,” said Leishman.

Woodland, 34, used his massive strength to reach the green in two on the long par-5 18th and made a closing birdie to join Leishman and Sharma.

“I played very well today… Kind of got a little loose there on the back nine, maybe ran out of gas a little, but it was nice to finish up with a birdie and nice to get some momentum going into tomorrow,” said the two-time CIMB Classic runner-up.

Former world number 1 and two-time champion Justin Thomas shot a 69 and was seven shots behind the leaders at 12-under par. Defending champion Pat Perez was tied 42nd at six-under par.

Kang, ranked 29, and the world number 33 Hull — two of the four co-leaders through Friday — remained tied after Kang had six birdies against two bogeys while Hull had a bogey-free round of 68.

World number two Ariya Jutanugarn from Thailand closely followed with three-under 69 with a total of 205, scoring four birdies and a bogey at the Sky 72 Golf Club in Incheon, South Korea.

“At the back nine I felt I had pretty good chanced to make birdies. I rolled the putter pretty well. Just didn’t go in the holes,” said Ariya looking for her first LPGA win in Asia.

“I have a lot of things to work on today. I missed some shots and I just wanted to come back to myself. Today I started to think about making birdied and tried to catch the lead or something and it didn’t help,’ the Thai added.

Local favourite Chun In-gee shared the third place at 206 with world number 17 Lydia Ko and Minjee Lee from Australia, who are both ethnically Korean.

Chun, ranked 27 and with two career LPGA wins under her belt, fired a six-under 66 in the third round after disappointing performances in the first and second rounds.

Chun’s compatriot and world number one Park Sung-hyun, who had co-shared the lead with Jutanugarn, Hull and Kang on Friday, sunk to the seventh place after an erratic round of 71 that included three bogeys and a double-bogey.

 The 21-year-old from Khon Kaen, winner of the men’s wheelchair 400m and 800m T53 in Rio de Janeiro two years ago, had a winning time of 27.59 seconds.

His previous triumphs came in the 100m, 400m and 800m.

 With four wins, he became Thailand’s most multi-time gold medallist in the Games.

“I’m so proud of myself to have won all the events that I entered,” said Pongsakorn, who also took the 200m silver medal at the 2015 World Championships in Doha.

“In fact I was so tired coming into today’s event as it was after midnight when we returned to the Athlete Village. I had only five hours for sleeping and had to wake up at six to make it on time for the competition this morning. However I gave my all out there because it was my last event,” said Pongsakorn, who was born with polio in both legs.

Countryman Silver Piche Krungget took the silver in 28.07 seconds, while Chinese Yang Shaqqiao was third in 28.69 seconds. Thailand also won three bronzes – from Peth Rungsri in men’s 200m T52 and men’s 200m T51/52, and from Boonkong Sanepoot in the men’s shot put F20.

In shooting, Anuson Chaichamnan won the mixed 10m air rifle prone after firing a total 253.8 points, a new Games record.

Two South Korean Lee Jiseok and Jeon Youngjun finished second and third, shooting 252.7 and 230.4 points respectively.

Thailand have reaped 23 gold medals and stand seventh in the medals table.

China, with 161 gold medals, are guaranteed to be the overall champions with Iran coming a distant second with 50 golds. The Games end on Saturday.

Garbine Muguruza

Muguruza, the 2016 French Open and 2017 Wimbledon champion, is keen to finish what has been by her standards a disappointing season on a high.

She has slumped to a world ranking of 13, while her best Grand Slam performance was a semi final at Roland Garros.

The Spaniard was relieved to keep the hard-fought match to just two sets with a semi-final against world number five Elina Svitolina or China’s leading player Wang Qiang looming Saturday.

“It was very competitive,” the 25-year-old.

Kumkhum broke her as she served for the match, levelling the scores at 5-5, before Muguruza finally overcame her opponent, who is ranked 105.

“I feel in the second set she was playing so much better — it was a full battle. I think the difference was a couple of points.”

Earlier, China’s Zhang Shuai looked in ominous form as she swatted aside last year’s runner-up Daria Gavrilova in straight sets.

The world number 39 overwhelmed her Australian opponent — who is ranked five places above her — with the power and precision of her ground strokes and ran away with a comfortable 6-1, 6-3 victory after little more than an hour on court.

Zhang, China’s number two, will make her debut in the Hong Kong semis Saturday when she takes on Ukrainian teenager Dayana Yastremska.

“The first and second rounds gave me a lot of confidence — that’s why today I played really well,” Zhang, 29, said.

Last year’s Hong Kong quarter finalist added she was happy soaking up the atmosphere on Centre Court.

“I’m really happy so many fans have come to Hong Kong. I’ll try my best tomorrow!”

Gavrilova, 24, said she was tired after two three-set matches in the earlier rounds and said she suffered a painful knee during the pre-game warm-up which required heavy strapping.

But she said that was not why she lost. “I felt like she had her A-game today,” Gavrilova said.

“I was dropping the ball too short and not finding the corners, I was getting myself into too much trouble by hitting the ball in the middle of the court really.”

“I was feeling it and my legs were a bit tired but I’m kind of used to it and this wasn’t the reason I lost.”

Zhang, who has won two career WTA singles titles, will be favourite to win against 18-year-old Yastremska, currently ranked 102.

The 2016 Wimbledon girls singles finalist fought back from an early setback to win only her second WTA quarter-final earlier Friday.

The 18-year-old quickly went down 4-0 to outsider Kristina Kucova — the world number 317 who knocked out Jelena Ostapenko in the first round — before recovering to win 7-6 (8/6), 6-2.

“The crowds were supporting me so I felt that energy and I was very motivated to come back,” she said.

Earlier this year, the big-serving teenager became the first player born this millennium to break into the WTA top 100 rankings.

Also on eight under at the Sky 72 Golf Club in Incheon, South Korea, were England’s Charley Hull, ranked 33, and 29th-ranked Danielle Kang of the US.

World number one Park three-putted twice but birdied three of the last six holes for a four-under 68 to secure her position in the leading group on eight under par.

“Overall, it wasn’t a bad round,” she said. “Those miscues stuck in my mind for a bit, but I was able to pick up a handful of birdies as well.”

Ariya bogeyed two of the first four holes but stormed back with six birdies on the back nine for a round of 67 at the par-72 course.

“I didn’t watch the leaderboard because after my front nine, I didn’t care about the lead,” she said, according to Yonhap news agency. “I just played golf.”

” I didn’t worry about the outcome. I wanted to play well because I feel that I’m in a good position. When I turned around the back nine, I came back to myself and just focussed on the things that I can control and that’s helped me a lot today.” added Ariya who is in the lead on the race to the CME Globe.

“I’m going to say I just focus day by day. I don’t think about I’m going to win about anything or not. I think it’s still pretty far ahead.”

Park Sung-hyung (credit to LPGA) 

Park and Ariya are the only LPGA players with three victories this year.

Hull, who is seeking her first win for nearly two years, said she felt “like my game is up there”.

Japanese teenager Nasa Hataoka, who led after the first round, fell back with a one-over-par 73 to tie for fifth with New Zealand’s Korean-born former world number one Lydia Ko, two shots behind the leaders.

The 21-year-old German will play 14-time Grand Slam champion Novak Djokovic or South African Kevin Anderson in the last four.

The fourth seed Zverev’s 6-4, 6-4 victory over the 11th-seeded Briton seals his place in the season-ending ATP Finals in London next month, which bring together the top eight men.

“It’s great to finally officially make it and again be a part of the best eight, which is an elite group,” said Zverev. “It is a goal for everyone at the beginning of the season. I’m very pleased to be in London again and get another opportunity to play there for the second year in a row. I’m looking forward to the tournament.

“I put it close to equal as a Grand Slam, actually. It’s probably one of the most prestigious events that we have, because to get there, you have to be one of the best eight players in the world… Just being a part of it, just playing there is already an honour itself. It’s close to, or it’s maybe equal to winning a Grand Slam, and I think other players will tell you the same thing, because just to be there, you obviously play well throughout the whole year,” Zverev said.

Shanghai top seed and defending champion Roger Federer plays Kei Nishikori in the quarter-finals later on Friday.

The top four players in the world — Rafael Nadal, Federer, Djokovic and Juan Martin del Potro — have already qualified for London. Zverev is ranked fifth.

ONE: KINGDOM OF HEROES played host to a series of compelling martial arts contests, headlined by a world-class boxing showdown between The Ring Magazine and two-time WBC Super Flyweight World Champion Srisaket Sor Rungvisai and the challenger Iran “MagnifiKO” Diaz from Mexico.

According to data from Nielsen, YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter, ONE: KINGDOM OF HEROES posted excellent viewership numbers, drawing over 25 million viewers, while setting a record-breaking peak TV ratings share of 58.5% in Thailand, and registering similarly strong numbers across the region in Asia.

ONE: KINGDOM OF HEROES featured some of the best martial arts world champions across 14 action-packed bouts featuring a wide spectrum of offerings which included Muay Thai, kickboxing, mixed martial arts, and world championship boxing.

To date, ONE Championship has garnered a staggering 30 billion impressions on social media as of September 2018. Video views reached 4.2 billion on an annualized basis, and are expected to continue to accelerate.

ONE Championship returns on Friday, 26 October, when martial arts superstar “The Burmese Python” Aung La N Sang returns home to Yangon, Myanmar to headline ONE: PURSUIT OF GREATNESS set for the Thuwunna Indoor Stadium. Aung La N Sang will put his ONE Middleweight World Championship on the line against Mohammad Karaki of Lebanon.

Spanish tennis star Nadal, 32, was pictured wearing boots and white gloves, mopping up the floor of a warehouse on Wednesday on the island where he lives.

The 17-time Grand Slam champion, currently sidelined through injury, has also offered to open up his sports centre and tennis academy to people made homeless by the floods.

“I know how important Majorca is to Rafa and I have been in touch with him to see if I can help with anything,” Federer said in a video message recorded in Shanghai where he is currently competing.

“I have seen him helping in the village where he comes from and to see that is super-inspiring. Rafa, you have our support.

“We are thinking of all the people in Majorca. We wish you strength in these difficult times and I hope to be back on Majorca soon.”

Fellow rival Novak Djokovic, also taking part in Shanghai, said he hoped Nadal’s efforts would inspire others.

“A big hug and friendly regards to Rafa and well done amigo for helping out,” said the reigning Wimbledon and US Open champion.

“I invite anyone to give their support in anyway they can. Gracias.”