Andy Murray outclasses David Ferrer to retain the Shanghai title – Shanghai Rolex Masters 2011
Seeded at number two in the tournament, Andy Murray of the Great Britain continued with his belligerent form to overwhelm the world number five, David Ferrer of Spain, to win the final of the Shanghai Rolex Masters on Sunday.
The contest was staged on the outdoor hard courts of the Qizhong Forest Sports City Arena in Shanghai, China, with the second seeded Briton winning in straight sets, 7-5, 6-4, to claim the ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals) Masters Series 1000 title in style.
Murray’s victory will propel him to clinch the number three spot in the South African Airways 2011 ATP Rankings on Monday, toppling the Swiss maestro, Roger Federer. Running a sublime form these days, the Briton bagged his fifth ATP singles title of the year by successfully defending his championship at Shanghai. He took one hour and forty six minutes of play to root out the aggressive Spaniard from the competition and claimed his 21st championship victory to hold the third berth in the world rankings.
“My goal for the last three-four months after the US Open was to try to finish as high as possible and win as many matches as I could,” said Murray. “It’s obviously been a great start. But I’m still not guaranteed to finish at No. 3. I’m still going to have to win some more matches. But if you finish in front of Federer in a year, then there’s not many people the last five, six, seven years that have been able to say that. So that’s obviously a nice thing if I can do it.”
Ferrer has also been in a magnificent form this season and is running a 51-15 winning record so far, but his game play was blown away by Murray’s fury. The Spaniard suffered his fourth straight defeat at the hands of the new world number three, trailing 3-5 in his all-time head-to-head record against Murray. The Briton has nailed three victories against Ferrer in the current year already and has won 25 out of his last 26 matches since the US Open.
Murray dropped just five points on his first serve and belted seven cracking aces in the matchup en route to victory. He converted four of his nine break points to drive the third seeded Spaniard out of the competition with ease. Ferrer posed some serious resistance in the first set but lost his momentum at the last moments to drop the opener. Winning the opening set, Murray cruised through the second one with ease, registering an emphatic victory to claim the Shanghai Rolex Masters.
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