Novak Djokovic wins Shanghai Masters title

By Liu Shiwen

Novak Djokovic takes revenge of US Open final defeat

SHANGHAI, China (TheSportsNEXT) October 14, 2012: Novak Djokovic of Serbia took revenge of his US Open final defeat to the hands of Olympic champion Andy Murray of Great Britain in great fashion on Sunday when he dethroned him from Shanghai Masters title.

Novak Djokovic came from behind to stun the Olympic gold medalist Andy Murray as the British tennis ace won the opening set by 7-5.

Djokovic clawed his way back in the second set by winning it with 7-6 (13-11) before completing the victory by claiming the third set by 6-3.

The match went to the wire, as expected, where Andy Murray, who won the US Open 2012 title by defeating Novak Djokovic in the final, failed to make use of five match points.

It all started with a promise for Andy Murray as he looked the better player of the two right from the start and won the initial set by 7-5 and ghosts of Flushing Meadows started haunting Djokovic’s mind as he came close to record back-to-back defeats against the British tennis player.

In front of the packed house in Shanghai, Andy Murray looked good to win the second set but failed to pounce on any of the five match points with Novak Djokovic keeping his cool in the times where it mattered the most and won the second set after a long tie-break of 13-11.

The world No 3 now had things under his control and the momentum was also favoring him amid claps from the local fans as he registered a rather easy victory in the third set to complete the title victory in about three hours and 21 minutes.

It was the first defeat ever for US Open champion Andy Murray, who has won Shanghai Masters title twice. He has played a total of 13 matches in Shanghai thus far.

It is important to mention here that Andy Murray had defeated Novak Djokovic in an epic five-set thriller to clinch the US Open crown last month.

Murray came into the Shanghai Masters final oozing with confidence after his classic victory over world number one Roger Federer on Saturday.

For Novak Djokovic, the comeback was mammoth as Andy Murray was serving for the match at 0-30 leading 5-4 in the third set but the Serb showed great resilience and rose from 3-1 down in the tie-break to eventually win it by 13-11. He also saved two match points at 8-7 and 10-9 in the second set tie-breaker.