Murray Downs Federer To Claim Shanghai Masters Trophy
Murray stunned Roger to win his second trophy of the year
The only thing that soothes fourth ATP Andy Murray from not claiming yet a grand slam trophy are the victories obtained in front of the top five ATP players. This is what he did in Shanghai as well. The Scot, who gained his second title of the season and sixth ATP World Tour Masters 1000 trophy, beat third-ranked Roger Federer 6-3, 6-2 as the Swiss was looking in the same time for the 18th Masters trophy in order to equalize Rafa Nadal. The 29-year-old failed in overcoming the Spaniard to give Murray confidence for the World Finals which will take place in London at the end of the year. Both Murray and Federer are already qualified for the Finals, alongside Rafa Nadal and Novak Djokovic.
The two reached the final without dropping any set. Even more than that, Roger smashed Robin Soderling to dismiss Novak Djokovic as well in his way through the last term. But Murray played better in their 13th meeting. He put pressure on the Swiss from the very begging, while Federer made way too many elementary mistakes. He would look pretty frustrated afterwards. “It was a classic bad mistake by the linesperson. In the end it’s what maybe cost me the match,” said Federer. On the other side, Murray, who reached four finals this season, admitted he played his best tennis of the year this week. “I have had a great week and played some of my best tennis, which I had to, to beat Roger.” He looked also aware of the fact that the Swiss could come from behind and handle the game. Again, the many mistakes would stop him. “Roger had a couple of chances to get back in the first set with a few big serves on some of them. He had one big chance with a forehand that he missed. Apart from that, it was obviously a great, great match for me. I made few mistakes. As a tournament overall, I’m very happy,” Murray added.
Meanwhile, this year’s Australian Open winner hopes these mistakes to come to an end. It is not for the first time that the Swiss made such incredible errors this season. He missed important opportunities in several finals during the last months. “It happens all the time. You hope it doesn’t happen in the finals against a great player like Andy on a breakpoint.” He praised though Scot’s performance, which didn’t let him play his own tennis. “Andy didn’t give me many chances to pull off the really big shots today.” However, this wasn’t Federer’s year for sure. But on the contrary, the Swiss entered this season after winning the French and Wimbledon Opens last year, while in 2010 took only the Australian trophy. “Last year I had quite a few things happening through the summer, winning French, winning Wimbledon, playing well in the summer, having twins, getting married, you name it. I could have done it, come here as well. But I just needed a rest. I was tired. This year, obviously the French and Wimbledon were nothing as brutal as last year. That’s why also for me it was a big priority at the beginning of the year so I could play Shanghai. I was considering either playing the week before Shanghai or the week after.”
Looking forward, Federer, who cannot rest too long, will compete in Stockholm next week, tournament which he honored just once in 2000. He would feel responsible for going to Soderling’s home where he will be on the second half of the table. So, the Swedish player has a chance to revenge just few days after he’s been sent home few days ago from Shanghai by the same Federer. “I feel like I owe Stockholm to come back there. Good friends with Bjorkman and Johansson, who run the tournament there now. Disappointment of pulling out there a couple years ago. That was the decision behind that. I hope also by playing Stockholm, this was half indoor tournament already, which is good for what’s to come now. I hope it’s going to help me playing well in Basel, Paris and then London. Still a lot of points to pick up and many important events for me,” the Swiss added.
Back to the Chinese final, Murray needed just one hour and 25 minutes for beating Federer. The Scot moved pretty well this week in Shanghai as a very good speed came out from his feet. “I hit a lot of great shots on the run and you have to come up with a lot of great shots against Federer if you want to beat him,” Murray, who won’t be present on Stockholm, said.
