Dubai: Gutsy teenager Borna Coric saw off self-destructing third seed Andy Murray 6-1, 6-3 to set up a semi-final clash against defending champion Roger Federer at the Dubai Duty Free Men’s Open on Thursday.

Fourth seed Tomas Berdych also made it into the last-four as he denied Sergiy Stakhovsky for a second successive year here with a 6-3, 4-6, 6-2 result. He will meet Novak Djokovic on Friday after the Serbian star overpowered Turkey’s Marsel Ilhan 6-1, 6-1 in the late match.

Federer needed a mere 20 minutes to take the first set 6-1 against Richard Gasquet, before his French opponent then retired.

Coric’s victory was the second-biggest of his fledgling career, behind only his stunning win over Rafael Nadal at the Basel Indoors last October.

Playing as a lucky loser, the Croatian, aged 18 years and three months, becomes the youngest player to reach the semi-finals in the 23-year history of this tournament.

While Coric stayed clinical, Murray simply could not find his rhythm, as displayed by his eight double faults in his 79 minutes on court.

Coric said: “This is one of my biggest wins for sure. I would say Nadal, [Ernests] Gulbis and him [Murray] are the top three.

“You can’t go in with a plan as he [Murray] doesn’t have any weak spots that you can actually say I need to play on. I was just trying to maintain my level and stay in the rallies as long as I could, which I was doing really good. I was also running very good and that was some of the game plan.”

Coric is now looking forward to playing defending champion Federer.

“I have nothing to lose, just literally nothing to lose,” he said. “I felt so special after I lost in the second round of qualifiers, so the idea is just go on court, enjoy it, learn and see how he’s playing.

“I’m going to try to beat him. I’m not going to go in the match like I’m going to lose, because otherwise I’m going to stay in my room or go home. But my main focus is going to be that I play as best as I can and enjoy being on the court.”

In the second quarter-final, Berdych was once again extended into three sets against an opponent he had beaten last year.

The Czech took the first set 6-3, but struggled in the second to be broken late and surrender 4-6 to Stakhovsky. However, he upped his game in the decider with breaks in the fifth and seventh games to sail through to his third successive semi-final here.

“No matter what it takes, it’s easy to win in two sets, under an hour. But if you have matches like that, it’s much more appreciated,” he said afterwards.

“So, whatever it takes, I’m ready for it mentally and physically. I think those kind of matches like today and yesterday, they are gonna count in the end.”

Of his semi-final match-up with Djokovic, Berdych added: “I think he’s definitely the guy on a roll right now. For me, it’s gonna be the same. I just need to come up on the court, try to bring a better game and try to improve myself.”