Third seeded Roger Federer ended World No. 1 Novak Djokovic's almost three year streak in China at the Shanghai Rolex Masters on Saturday evening.

The 17-time Grand Slam champion produced one of his best tennis against the defending champion who broke Djokovic once in the first set and another at the very first game of the second set to advance to his fifth ATP Masters 1000 event this year.

Like Us on Facebook

 "I think I played very well," Federer said. "There was nothing in the game today that wasn't working. I think it was a high-level match. I'm unbelievably happy with the way it went."

The Cincinnati Masters champion will meet Gilles Simon who defeated Spaniard Feliciano Lopez in two straight sets 6-2 7(7)-6(1) earlier on Saturday.

Federer hopes to achieve his 81^st title and a second attempt on his first cup of the tournament, the first one being in 2010 when he lost to Britain's No. 1 Andy Murray.

The 27-year-old Serb has won the China Open three consecutive years in a row with the recent one against Tomas Berdych and has been halted in Shanghai for his attempt at a three-peat.

"I think I did not play too bad," Djokovic said. "It's just that he played everything he wanted to play. He played the perfect match. He played an amazing match."

This is their 36^th encounter and Federer, 33, has won 19 against to 17 of Djokovic. They have tied tennis legends Ivan Lendl and John McEnroe for the most matchups.

Djokovic has won three of the seven Masters 1000 tournaments this year with the four split onto four players in Federer, Rafael Nadal, Stan Wawrinka and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.

The last Masters 1000 event of the year will be the BNP Paribas Masters in Paris, where Djokovic is also the defending champion, prior to the prestigious season-ending event, the WTA World Tour Finals in London.

TagsRoger Federer, Novak Djokovic, Gilles Simon