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.

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Murray, Djokovic set up mouth-watering Shanghai final

By Liu Shiwen

Novak Djokovic vs Andy Murray for Shanghai Masters title

SHANGHAI, China (TheSportsNEXT) October 13, 2012: Defending champion Andy Murray and Novak Djokovic of Serbia set up a mouth-watering final at Shanghai Masters on Saturday after winning their respective semi-finals in straight sets.

 

Olympic champion Andy Murray continued his mental advantage over world number one Roger Federer as he raced to victory with score of 6-4 6-4 in the second semi-final.

In the first semi-final, Novak Djokovic of Serbia outclassed Tomas Berdych of Czech Republic by 6-3 6-4.

The Shanghai Masters final will be played on Sunday.

The Shanghai Masters final would be a rematch of the US Open 2012 final where Andy Murray won his first Grand Slam title at Flushing Meadows last month.

This is the 10^th time this season that Novak Djokovic has entered final of an ATP tournament and this time he smashed fourth-seeded Tomas Berdych ferociously.

In its tour-leading 69th victory of the year, Djokovic hit 25 winners and converted all three of his break points to improve his head-to-head record against Berdych to 10-1.

Novak Djokovic, who is in search of his fifth title this season, looked in great touch as he gave no opportunity to the Czech Berdych to regain the advantage and seemed all set to win back-to-back titles after his last week’s title triumph in Beijing.

Novak Djokovic told reporters, "Movement today was very important from my side, to be on a very high level so I can try to get into the longer rallies where I find more chances on my side to win the rallies. I played tactically right. I was putting a lot of returns into the court, making a lot of pressure on his serve."

On the other hand, Tomas Berdych said, "First of all I need to give credit to Novak, he started really like a champion. He started really, really great, and didn't give me a chance at all."

"He's the second player in the world, chasing for the first place. It's really tough to find the way and have a positive record with him”, Berdych added.

In the other semi-final, Andy Murray continued enjoying mental advantage over Roger Federer which he got after the Olympic victory in London earlier this year as he needed only two sets to complete the win.

Game looked all tight and stiff until fifth game of the first set when Andy Murray broke Roger Federer for the first time but from that moment on he never looked back and despite of a couple of rain breaks, he completed the victory in two sets.

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