Shanghai - Andy Murray buried remnants of his 2010 slump in indisputable fashion on Sunday with a crushing 6-3, 6-2 defeat of Roger Federer to win a second Masters trophy of the season with victory in Shanghai.
It took less than 90 minutes for the fourth-ranked Murray to completely rewrite his 2010 scenario and earn his second title of the year — also recording his second consecutive defeat of the Swiss in a Masters final.
The loss prevented Federer from pulling even with Rafael Nadal for the most career Masters titles, at 18.
“It was obviously a very, very good week,” Murray said. “The match was, from my side, very solid. Roger had a couple chances to get back in the first set.
“It was obviously a great, great match for me. I made few mistakes, but as a tournament, overall I’m very happy with it,” said Murray, who was ill last week and lost in the Beijing quarterfinals. “I had to play great to have a chance against Roger. But I was able to do that today.”
Murray now has a solid 8-5 lifetime record against Federer, who will move back to second in the world on Monday, just behind Nadal thanks to his semifinal defeat of Novak Djokovic, which followed a hammering of two-time Roland Garros finalist Robin Soderling.
But Federer’s form tapered away when it counted against Murray, who struck 20 winners, saved six break points and broke four times.
The performance is bound to restore the confidence of the prickly Scot, who was laughingly admonished during the trophy ceremony with pleas from the emcee to promise to smile more on his next visit.
Federer, with 30 unforced errors, saved a match point in the final game before Murray pulled through for victory under the open roof of the Qi Zhong center.
The defeat dropped Federer to 2-4 in 2010 finals, with Murray improving his overall season record to 41-14.
“I’ve played some of my best tennis against Roger,” he said.
In August, a fortnight before the start of the US Open, Murray lifted the Toronto trophy at Federer’s expense. The 23-year-old Scot lost the Australian Open final to the Swiss in January.
Federer acknowledged that he was outplayed on Sunday.
“I know how tough it is to win these Masters titles,” the Swiss star said. “He made me work hard. I couldn’t find many great shots; he was too good.”
Tennis
Agence France-Presse
It took Britain’s Andy Murray less than 90 minutes to deny Roger Federer his 18th Masters title.
Source: http://www.thejakartaglobe.com