After picking out David Ferrer as a dark
horse for success in the Shanghai Masters final at the start of the week, it is
indeed the Spaniard who takes his place in Sunday’s final against the red-hot
Andy Murray.
How did they get here?
Both men had reasonably straight forward
draws, although David Ferrer did make it a little difficult for himself on more
than one occasion. After squeezing through two tight sets in his opener against
Raonic, 
Ferrer then lost the opening set of all three of his matches between
there and the final. Matches with Ferrerro, Roddick and Lopez all seemed to be
going the way of his opponents but each time Ferrer has shown remarkable
resolve and will be delighted with what is his best Masters showing on this
surface across the year.
Andy Murray, is looking unstoppable right
now. Victories in Thailand
and Japan have brought Murray to the brink of
moving above Roger Federer to No.3 in the World Rankings and indeed a win on
Sunday will see him achieve that goal.
In truth Murray hasn’t had a tough week at all here,
but you can only defeat the opponents who come before you and the British No.1
has certainly done that. A bye in the first round, was followed by a walkover
in the second, after Tursunov retired with injury. Since then Murray has defeaedt Wawrinka, Ebden and
Nishikori to reach the final.
Head-to-Head
These two have met on seven previous
occasions and perhaps surprisingly Murray
only holds a slender 4-3 advantage. Interestingly, all three of Ferrer’s wins
have come on clay and all four of Murray’s
have been won on hard courts. Ferrer doesn’t tend to have so much success on
hard courts but he has proved this week he is up for the challenge and has been
showing some superb grit and determination. The most recent hard court meeting
between the pair came just last week in Japan with Murray comfortably taking it
6-2, 6-3.
Final verdict
The stats just aren’t stacking up for
Ferrer. He’s always in there with a chance of beating anyone and will not let
his head go down at any point, but after putting in three stunning comebacks in
the last three days, he finds himself in the position of coming into a match
against an opponent at the top of his game, who he has never beaten on this
surface, and more than likely feeling completely exhausted.
Murray on the other hand is not only enjoying one of the best runs of his
career and playing some outstanding tennis, he also approaches the Shanghai Rolex Masters final
feeling physically great, after making it here without having been troubled in
any of his matches and having played a match less than Ferrer.
It would be fantastic to see Ferrer do it
on Sunday. He certainly deserves it for the effort and desire he has show here
all week. Andy Murray is gunning for the World No.3 spot and is never one to
show any kind of complacency in any event, let alone a Masters 1000. This one
surely can’t go any other way than Murray’s.
Ferrer will battle throughout but I can’t see him taking a set from the Scot
and after destroying Nadal 6-0 in the final set of the Japan Open Final last
Sunday, don’t bet against a similar score line in the second set here on
Sunday.
Tips
Andy Murray to win the match – 1/6
Andy Murray to win 2-0 at tennis oddds of 1/2
Total Sets 2 – 4/11
Second set score – 6-0 (Murray) 28/1