Novak Djokovic saves five MP’s versus Andy Murray in the final
After conquering the tennis world in 2011, Novak Djokovic stood as the player to beat in the following season, winning six titles, including the Australian Open, Masters Cup and three Masters 1000 tournaments and finishing as the year-end no.
1 for the second year. Novak did not play in Shanghai in 2011, and he made a strong return a year later to conquer the title and add the seventh different Masters 1000 event to his already excellent collection at 25. The Serb was in great form after losing the Madrid Masters quarter-final on the blue clay back in May, winning 39 of the last 46 encounters before Shanghai and dominating the first four matches in China to set up the final meeting with a two-time champion Andy Murray.
Djokovic produced high-quality tennis at the Qi Zhong Tennis Center, losing serve thrice against Grigor Dimitrov, Feliciano Lopez, Tommy Haas and Tomas Berdych to claim all four triumphs in under an hour and a half. On the other hand, Andy had never lost a match in Shanghai until this final, playing just three encounters to advance into the title match.
A month after their thrilling US Open final that Murray grabbed in five sets in just under five hours, they presented another exciting show with a different outcome. Djokovic claimed a 5-7, 7-6, 6-3 victory in three hours and 21 minutes, making it by far the longest final in Shanghai!
It was their 16th meeting, and Novak scored the ninth triumph after saving no less than five match points in the second set, sailing away in the decider to complete the steal and lift the trophy. Murray converted five out of six break points.
Still, it was not enough to carry him home after getting broken six times from 13 chances offered to Novak. The Briton did not make that extra step and failed to convert his opportunities to deliver the third consecutive Shanghai crown.
The crowd had a chance to enjoy an entertaining battle between two marvelous players that pushed each other to the limits…
Source : tennisworldusa
