Murray Ousts Federer in Shanghai, will Face Djokovic in Final

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Murray Ousts Federer in Shanghai, will Face Djokovic in Final

By Chris Oddo

(October 13, 2012)--In a rematch of this year's Wimbledon and Olympic final, Andy Murray swept aside Roger Federer 6-4, 6-4 to reach the finals of the Shanghai Rolex Masters.

Murray has upped his career record to 10-8 against the world No. 1, including 5-1 in Masters 1000 events and 3-0 in Shanghai, with the victory. Federer, who was bidding for his fourth Masters 1000 title of 2012, drops to 64-9 on the year (34-4 on hard courts) with the loss.

After the pair traded breaks of serve in the first two games, Murray moved ahead in the fifth game when Federer hit three consecutive double faults to surrender the break. This time Murray, who turned in one of his better serving performances of the season, wouldn't give it back. The Scot served consecutive aces from 30-all in the eighth game and two more aces while serving for the set at 5-4 to close out the first set.

Things came to a boil early in the second set as Federer saved seven break points in the first game while at the same time managing to appeal to officials to close the venues retractable roof to due wetness on the court. Officials elected to close the roof while play continued, then apparently decided against it, while Federer managed to fight his way out of the game unscathed.

Meanwhile, Murray's relentless serving continued, and the pressure kept falling back on Federer to keep pace. In the fifth game Murray fought back from 40-15 down to secure the break and a 3-2 lead when he lashed a crosscourt forehand against a Federer first serve to secure the break.

With Murray ready to serve for the match and his tenth win against top ten opposition in 2012, rain interrupted, causing a long delay as the players were ushered off court to wait for the roof to close.

The delay did nothing to dampen Murray's momentum as the World No. 3 served out the match with ease, finishing a dominant serving performance in which he lost only 4 points on his first serve and reeled off 9 straight service holds after being broken in the first game.

Murray will bid for his 9th career Masters 1000 title and first of 2012 when he faces Novak Djokovic in Sunday’s final.

The Serb converted on all three break points he saw to ease past Tomas Berdych 6-3, 6-4 in the first semifinal on Saturday. Djokovic managed to win 17 of 27 points against Berdych’s second serve, completing the straight-set victory in one hour and twenty-five minutes to claim his tenth win in eleven tries against the World No. 7.

Djokovic, on a nine-match winning streak, lashed 25 winners against Berdych. He jumped out to a 5-1 lead in the second set, and never trailed from there.

“I need to give credit to Novak,” said Berdych. “He started like a champion and didn’t give me a chance at all. He was too good for me today.”

Djokovic will bid for his 13th Masters 1000 title against Murray in the final, and he’ll attempt to avenge his loss to the Scotsman in five sets at this year’s U.S. Open final.

The Serb holds an 8-7 career advantage over Murray, but has dropped the last two, at the Olympics and in the U.S. Open.

Murray holds a 4-2 edge over Djokovic in finals.

SHANGHAI ROLEX MASTERS

RESULTS -- SATURDAY, OCTOBER 13, 2012

Singles - Semi-finals
[3] A Murray (GBR) d [1] R Federer (SUI) 64 64
[2] N Djokovic (SRB) d [4] T Berdych (CZE) 63 64

Doubles - Semi-finals
[4] L Paes (IND) / R Stepanek (CZE) d M Cilic (CRO) / M Melo (BRA) 60 62
[7] M Bhupathi (IND) / R Bopanna (IND) d C Fleming (GBR) / R Hutchins (GBR) 67(4) 63 10-8

(Photo Credit: Mark Ralston/ AFP)