Alexander Zverev loses his rag during Shanghai Masters semi-final loss to Novak Djokovic

The Serb won 6-2, 6-1 in a near-flawless semi-final on Saturday, and Djokovic's serve has not been broken this week in 37 service games.

He never offered Zverev a break point opportunity, and broke the German's serve on four of six offerings. By the time Zverev was 6-2, 3-1 down, his emotions got the better of him as he hit a routine backhand into the net.

He banged his racket to the ground, then gave it another swipe before tossing the mangled implement into the crowd.

Djokovic posted only nine unforced errors to 24 for Zverev.

"I did everything I intended to do on my end," Djokovic said. "It's all working and it's been a couple of perfect matches. There's a lot of positives to take from my matches this week."

Djokovic is targeting his 72nd career title here on Sunday. He has won all three of his previous finals in Shanghai.

He awaits Borna Coric after the Croatian surprised the defending champion and top seed Roger Federer 6-4 6-4.