Reuters
Shanghai, Oct 17: World No. 1 Novak Djokovic continued his dominance of the Chinese hard courts by swatting aside a mis-firing Andy Murray 6-1, 6-3 to reach the final of the Shanghai Masters here Saturday.
The Serbian will take on Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the final Sunday after the 16th seed recorded a 6-4, 0-6, 7-5 win over Rafa Nadal, his first in almost four years against the Spaniard.
The 30-year-old Frenchman was delighted with his scintillating display featuring 40 winners, mainly from a fearsome forehand, but will have to find yet another gear if he is to upset Djokovic.
The 10-times Grand Slam champion is aiming for his third Shanghai title on the back of securing his sixth China Open crown last week when he dismantled Nadal in the Beijing final.
Briton Murray, twice a champion in Shanghai, knew a fast start was necessary if he was to upset his long term foe but he did just the opposite.
The World No.2 two served a paltry 43 per cent of first serves in the opening set, offered four double faults and 17 unforced errors as he was broken in three straight games to concede the opener.
Murray rebounded at the start of the second by breaking Djokovic to 15 and hustled and harried in trademark gamely fashion but the small bit of momentum was lost as he gave away his next service game. From then on it was one-way traffic for the Serb.
“I felt great from the first point. I was playing with very high intensity, especially on serve,” Djokovic said in a courtside interview.
Meanwhile Tsonga fired down 11 aces to record his first win over Nadal since the 2011 ATP World Tour Finals and move up to ninth in his bid to qualify again for the eight man end-of-season championships in London.
