Andy Murray stunned in Dubai as Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer win

But there were no shocks in store for world number one Novak Djokovic, who completed a 6-1 6-1 win over Turkey's Marsel Ilhan in just 49 minutes while Rodger Federer won the first set 6-1 before Gasquet retired injured with a back injury.

"I know enough about the back, and I know how horrible it is to play with that and how much worse it can sometimes become," said a sympathetic Federer. "It's maybe better not to take any chances at this point."

Djokovic's reward is a meeting with Tomas Berdych in the last four after he completed a 6-3 4-6 6-2 win over Sergiy Stakhovsky earlier on.

Coric played without nerves during the quarter-final clash against Murray, who leapfrogged Rafael Nadal to No. 3 in the world earlier in the week, which allowed him to hit the ball cleanly and put the Brit under pressure from the off.

The 18-year-old won 89 percent of points on his first serve and capitalised on some poor serving from Murray, converting four of his eight break point opportunities.

Coric is the first teenager to reach the last four in Dubai since Nadal clinched the title in 2006 as a baby-faced 19-year-old.

“He didn't make many errors,” said Murray. “He played very solid and he moved well. I made way too many mistakes from the beginning of the match right through to the end, early in rallies, rushing points."

The Brit, who reached the final of the Australian Open earlier this year, hit 15 winners but committed 55 unforced errors in during the 80-minute match.

Having beaten Coric comfortably during a 2013 Davis Cup tie, Murray added, “He makes good decisions on the court. He's stronger now. He serves a bit better. His [Emirates ATP] ranking would suggest that he's made some big improvements.”

Murray lost three successive service games to concede the first set 6-1.

Coric, who made the main draw as a lucky loser, broke for a decisive 4-2 lead in the second set before serving out for the match.

Murray failed to earn a single break point against Coric, the Croat winning 88 and 84 percent of points on his first and second serves respectively, while the Zagreb native also broke Murray four times.

The Scot won only five points on Coric's serve in the entire match.

The Croat, who last year became the youngest player to crack the top 100 since Rafa Nadal burst through in 2003, had failed to get past the second round in any of his five previous tournaments this year.

But the 84th-ranked player will be eager to build on his victory over Murray when he faces either 17-time Grand Slam winner Federer in Friday's semi-final.

1-Novak Djokovic (Serbia) beat Marsel Ilhan (Turkey) 6-1 6-1

2-Roger Federer (Switzerland) beat Richard Gasquet (France) 6-1 (Gasquet retired)

4-Tomas Berdych (Czech Republic) beat Sergiy Stakhovsky (Ukraine) 6-3 4-6 6-2

Borna Coric (Croatia) beat 3-Andy Murray (Britain) 6-1 6-3