BEIJING: World No. 1 Novak Djokovic continued his love affair with the China Open on Saturday, dumping Andy Murray 6-3, 6-4 to storm into his fifth final in Beijing where he has been simply unstoppable.

The 27-year-old Serb took an hour and 37 minutes to down Murray for an impressive 23-0 record in Beijing and meets Tomas Berdych, a 6-4, 6-1 winner over Martin Klizan, in Sunday’s final.

In the women’s section, French Open champion Maria Sharapova outplayed former No. 1 Ana Ivanovic 6-0 6-4 to set up a final clash with third seed Petra Kvitova who overcame Sam Stosur 6-3, 5-7, 6-2.

Looking to add to his four Beijing titles, Djokovic completely outplayed Murray as he looks to finish the year as the No. 1.

“I’m glad that I’m back in the form that I would like to be in, especially in these courts where I still haven’t lost ever since I played this tournament,” the top seed said.

“Hopefully, I can finish the year in style, similar as I finished last year.”

Murray, fresh from his first victory in more than a year at last week’s Shenzhen Open, put up more resistance in the second set but could not crack Djokovic’s solid defense and smashed his racquet in frustration after being broken in the ninth game.

“It was a two-set victory today, but still it felt like I had to work hard to win the points,” said Djokovic, chasing his fifth Tour title of the season.

“There was a lot of rally exchanges. He had a lot of chances to come back. He was 4-3 up. Just in important moments I managed to play the better tennis.

“The comfortable hold at 4-3 probably allowed me to have that relief, because obviously I didn’t want him to break me and get into a third set where it can go either way.”

Djokovic restricted the Scot to only seven winners and denied him four of his five break point chances.

With his semifinal appearance, Murray has moved up to ninth place in the race to season-ending ATP Finals in London, which will feature the top eight.

In the women section, Kvitova survived some tense moments before taming Stosur to get within a win of being the world No. 2.

Stosur dropped just four points in six service games to claim the second set and force a decider but Kvitova reeled off five games in a row to close out the match in two hours and 21 minutes.

Nishikori rallies to set up Raonic final in Tokyo

In Tokyo, local favorite Kei Nishikori overcame an injury scare to labor past Benjamin Becker and set up a Tokyo Open final clash against Canada’s Milos Raonic, who enjoyed a more routine victory in the other semis on Saturday.

Nishikori dropped the first set and needed courtside treatment on a hip injury ahead of the decider before prevailing 4-6 6-0 7-6(2) in a duel that lasted an hour and 47 minutes.

Becker nearly silenced the 10,000 spectators at the Ariake Colosseum by claiming the first set when Nishikori hit a forehand return into the net.

The local fans soon found their voice, however, when US Open finalist Nishikori bounced back in style, storming through the second set with the concession of just 11 points.

Nishikori raced to a 3-1 lead in the decider but Becker refused to throw in the towel and broke back to eventually force a tie-breaker that his opponent dominated.

The victory ensures Nishikori will move up to fifth place in the race for one of the eight spots available at the ATP Finals in London from Nov. 9-16.

Novak Djokovic, Rafa Nadal and Roger Federer have already guaranteed their places at the season-ending tournament.

Sunday’s final will be a rematch of their marathon US Open fourth round duel that equalled the record for the latest match ever played at the year’s final grand slam.

Nishikori outlasted Raonic 4-6 7-6(4) 6-7(6) 7-5 6-4 in four hours and 19 minutes at the Arthur Ashe Stadium before going on to become the first Asian male to reach a grand slam final.

Losing finalist in the last two editions of the Tokyo tournament, Raonic stayed on course to be third time lucky with a comprehensive 6-1 6-4 win over Frenchman Gilles Simon in a rain-interrupted match.