Novak Djokovic avoided a humbling defeat at the Shanghai Masters as he fought back from a set down to defeat Mischa Zverev in the quarter-finals.
The defending champion dropped the opening set and was dragged into a second set tie-break by the German qualifier, but emerged with a 3-6 7-6 6-3 win after an unconvincing display against the world No 110.
An error-strewn performance from Djokovic saw him broken on three occasions and the Serb's usual steely focus appeared to waver as he laughed regularly while racking up 37 unforced mistakes and six double faults.
But Djokovic still managed to set up a semi-final against Roberto Bautista Agut and stayed on course for a possible final against Andy Murray, who takes on David Goffin in the quarters, and has been targeting his rival's No 1 spot in the world rankings.
Zverev had come through a controversial win over Nick Kyrgios on his run through the tournament and broke twice, with help from the erratic Djokovic, while taking a one-set lead.
Both men exchanged breaks during the second set and Djokovic allowed Zverev to trim his lead to 5-4 in the tie-break, leaving him perilously close to defeat, before he eventually levelled the match.
Djokovic seemed to have the match in his grasp after breaking for a 3-0 lead in the third set, but still had to survive another break point and was grateful for a wayward forehand from Zverev, which allowed him to close out victory.
In the day's opening quarter final, world No 19 Bautista Agut advanced to his second career Masters semi-final with a superb 6-3 6-4 victory over the ninth seeded Jo Wilfried Tsonga.
The Spaniard, a winner of two titles already this season, reached the last four of a 1000 series event for the first time since Madrid in 2014.
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