Shanghai and mighty: Murray moves up to third in the world
BRITAIN’S Andy Murray claimed to have fulfilled one of his season’s goals after he ensured he would climb to third in the world rankings having defended his Shanghai Masters title with a win over David Ferrer.
It was the Scot’s third tournament victory on the bounce following his successes in Bangkok and Tokyo and he never looked in danger against Spaniard Ferrer, who was comprehensively beaten 7-5, 6-4 inside two hours.
Victory saw the 24-year-old improve his recent record to 25 wins from 26 matches since mid-August – his only defeat in that run coming against Rafael Nadal in the US Open semi-final – and is set to move him above Roger Federer in the standings.
It will be the first time Federer has fallen out of the top three since June 2003, just before he won his first Wimbledon title and Murray was delighted to achieve a target he has set himself after his Flushing Meadows campaign came a grinding halt.
“It’s not something I aimed for at the start of the year. You want to try to finish at number one if you can,” said Scotsman Murray (right).
“After the US Open that wasn’t possible. I needed to reassess my goals. I wanted to finish the year at three if possible. I haven’t done that before.
“That still isn’t complete. I’m still going to have to win some more matches to do that.
“But the last three weeks have been very good. I’ve had a good mindset and fought really hard in all the matches. Here I got a bit tired but I wanted to keep the run going.
“I’m really happy with the way I’m playing and hope I can keep it up for the rest of the year.”