SHANGHAI, October 16, 2016
Andy Murray ratcheted up the pressure on Novak Djokovic in the battle for No. 1 on Sunday by beating Roberto Bautista Agut 7-6, 6-1 in Sunday’s Shanghai Rolex Masters final.
The second seed from Scotland sent down eight aces, winning 82 per cent of his first service points. Murray converted all of his four break point chances to secure victory in one hour and 36 minutes. The Brit won his second ATP World Tour Masters 1000 title of the season and the 13th of his career. The 29-year-old also celebrated his 41st career tour-level title.
“I did feel like I played better this week than last week. In all of the matches I was hitting the ball pretty clean,” told Murray, who closes the gap between himself and World No. 1 Djokovic to 915 points in the Emirates ATP Race To London.
“The most important thing to reach No. 1 is to be extremely consistent throughout the whole year, which I have done really since the clay-court season. I believe I can get there. I definitely believe I can get there. These last few months have proved that to me. I’ll give it my best shot to do it, because I may never get another chance.”
Bautista Agut was trying to win his first ATP World Tour Masters 1000 title and third title of the season, following his triumphs in Auckland and Sofia.
“I think it was a close first set. It was not easy for me to handle all the emotions I had this week. For me, it was not easy to feel perfect on the court and in my first final appearance at a Masters 1000,” Bautista Agut said. “But I think I gave everything on the court today. I’m going to learn from all the success I had this week.”
US-Americans Claim Doubles Title
John Isner and Jack Sock won their first ATP World Tour Masters 1000 team crown, defeating Henri Kontinen and John Peers 6-4, 6-4. The US-American duo won 78 per cent of their service points and never faced a break point. The encounter lasted 62 minutes.
“We both definitely prefer singles, but we also have a lot of fun playing with each other in doubles. I think that’s the No. 1 reason why we did so well this week is because we are having a lot of fun with it,” Isner said.
“It’s always fun playing with a good friend. John is probably my best friend on tour… Like he said, we just had a lot of fun. Laughed a lot. Kept it light out there. I think that’s why we played pretty well,” Sock added.
