Back Murray to be the Shanghai master again

US Open and London 2012 Olympic Games champion Andy Murray is the man to beat in the Shanghai Masters, the penultimate ATP World Tour Masters 1000 tournament of the season with only the Paris event to come before the Finals in London.

Several of the top players are making noises that they are running out of gas as their long campaigns - longer than usual because of the Olympic Games - draw to a close.

But such is Murray`s excellent form in the Shanghai Masters, a high-class competition played on outdoor hard courts, it is difficult to look past Britain`s latest grand slam king.

Murray is 9-0 in Shanghai Masters matches. The Briton made his Shanghai Masters debut in 2010 and did not drop a set en route to winning what was then his 15th men`s singles title. All three of the other heavyweights of men`s tennis - Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer - participated in the 2010 Shanghai Masters, with Murray smashing the Swiss 6-3 6-2 in the final after Federer had beaten the Serbian.

Neither Djokovic nor Federer lined up for the 2011 Shanghai Masters but that should not take away anything from Murray`s successful championship defence in which he dropped only one set - to Stanislas Wawrinka - and defeated David Ferrer 7-5 6-4 in the decider to make it five titles for the season.

Unbeaten in Shanghai, Murray is the man to beat, especially as he is keen to make amends for his sloppy play in losing 3-6 7-6 6-7 to Milos Raonic in last week`s Japan Open. He was the reigning champion but he took his foot off the gas and allowed the Canadian, who trailed 1-4 in the third and final set, to fight back and spring a fairly big upset.

Murray is drawn in the same Shanghai Masters half as top seed Federer, John Isner and Juan Monaco. If the tournament goes according to the rankings, Murray will face Isner in the quarter-finals - the Briton leads the American 3-0 overall - and the Swiss in the last four. Murray has a winning head-to-head record against Federer, with him leading 9-8 overall and 8-7 on hard courts. Also, the Shanghai Masters will be the first post-US Open event for the Swiss, who is better indoors rather than outdoors.

China Open champion Djokovic has the potential to dominate the bottom half of the Shanghai Masters draw, with the other seeds in his section being Tomas Berdych, Janko Tipsarevic and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga. All eight seeds have been granted byes into the second round of the Shanghai tournament.

However, Djokovic has a good but not great Shanghai Masters record for a man with 31 men`s singles titles to his credit, including five grand slam championships. The Serbian has bowed out of the event at the semi-final stage twice.

Furthermore, while Djokovic has an 8-7 head-to-head record versus Murray, he has lost his last two matches against the Briton and they are level at 6-6 in hard-court clashes.

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09/10/2012     © Frixo 2024