World number three Andy Murray will gun for his third consecutive Shanghai Rolex Masters title on Sunday after dismissing top-ranked Roger Federer in the semifinals 6-4, 6-4. The Scot now has a 12-0 record at the Chinese city, having won the title in 2010 (defeated Federer) and last year (defeated Ferrer).
In order to achieve the hat-trick of titles in Shanghai, Murray will have to overcome number two Novak Djokovic of Serbia in the rematch of the recently concluded US Open 2012 final.
Their head-to-head series record stands at 7-8 with Djokovic leading but Murray managed to narrow down this record by winning their past two encounters – at the London Olympics 2012 semifinals and at the US Open 2012 final where Murray finally won his first Grand Slam singles title.
“I’ve known him for 14, 15 years now. We’ve obviously had some incredibly tough matches which can maybe test a friendship. But we’ve always been I think pretty respectful of each other,” Murray said, referring to Djokovic.
Meanwhile, Murray improved his record to 10-8 against Federer after beating the Swiss star in 98 minutes.
“He didn’t serve that well for him tonight, so I was able to be very aggressive on his second serve,” Murray observed.
“He maybe slowed down his first serve a little bit, so I was able to take a few more chances. Obviously that helped. I went for it, like I did the past few times I played against him, and it worked tonight. When you’re beating the best player of all time probably, it’s obviously going to be special,” he added.
Watch Shanghai Rolex Masters Djokovic vs Murray Final Live Online Coverage Video Stream
