Andy Murray fails to take down Novak Djokovic in the thrilling final – Shanghai Rolex Masters 2012
Second seed, Novak Djokovic of Serbia, came back from the brink of defeat to beat the two-time defending champion, Great Britain’s Andy Murray, in the final of the Shanghai Rolex Masters on Sunday.
Djokovic displayed ultimate fighting spirit, never saying die in the toughest of situations during this three hours 21 minutes long contest. The Serbian lost the first set and faced five match points in the second one but managed
to save all of them, going on to win that and then the decider with ease, ending the contest with a score line of 5-7, 7-6(11), 6-3.
Both players broke each on a number of occasions in the first set. Djokovic drew the first blood, as he struck in the second game to go up 2-0 but Murray did not take much time to square it off at 2-2. Djokovic and Murray failed
to hold their serve in the following four and took the score to 4-4. The Brit then clinched a breakthrough in the 11th and capitalised on that to triumph 7-5.
First half of the second set went with serves, levelling the proceedings at 3-3. Murray hit a blow to Djokovic in the seventh game and won his following serve to get into a winning position. The Brit had a match point at 40-30
but he failed to convert it, losing the game as well to take the score to 5-5. The set was taken to a tie-breaker later on, where Djokovic put away four more match points and won it 7-6(11).
Just like the second set, Djokovic and Murray held their serve in the first six games of the decider to even out the score at 3-3. The Serbian completely dominated the contest afterwards, claiming three in a row and grabbing it
6-3.
Djokovic said during the post match press conference, "It's difficult to judge who was better because it was so close throughout the whole match. We had so many rallies in three and a half hours; for a best-of-three set match it
is a very long time.”
The Serbian is now in a very good position to end the season as world number one. He added, "I'm trying to focus now on the end of the season. I need to play well indoors. I need to try to stay consistent with my results and eventually
get a shot at No. 1 of the world. It's my biggest objective in this moment. It's something I'm aiming for. Obviously this is going to be a huge confidence boost and is going to help me in the race for No. 1.”
Since losing to Murray in the US Open final, Djokovic has remained unbeaten, winning all the 10 matches he has played.
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