Murray lifts Shanghai title and closes in on number one spot
The Scot beat Roberto Bautista 7-6, 6-1 and won the tournament without dropping a set to move to within 915 points of Novak Djokovic in the ranking.
Andy Murray put on a second set display of ruthlessness to defeat Roberto Bautista 7-6 (7/1), 6-1 in the final of the Shanghai Masters to lift the title for a third time and without dropping a set.
Murray also significantly closed the gap in the ATP ranking on world number one Novak Djokovic.
The Wimbledon and Olympic champion won seven points in a row in the first-set tie-breaker and broke Bautista three times in the second set to lift his third Shanghai title.
Second-ranked Murray has now won 20 straight sets in a 10-match winning streak, marching to back-to-back titles in China including last week's China Open victory in Beijing.
Djokovic's number one spot in sight
Murray also cuts the gap on Djokovic, who was shocked by Spain's Bautista in the semis, to 915 points as he zeroes in on the Serb's top ranking.
However, the number two said ahead of Sunday’s final he was not expecting to overhaul the Serbian by the end of this season.
Murray: "Number one this year not realistic"
"My goal is not to try and reach number one this year. I'd have to win pretty much every match between now and the end of the year. And Novak would have to win hardly any," Murray said. "So it's not in my hands. I want to try and get there, but I don't think doing that by the end of this year is that realistic. So I just want to try and finish this year as strong as I can. Maybe give myself a chance at doing it the early part of next year.”
"The last few months I've played very well in all of the tournaments and obviously I'm happy to be back in the final again here," the 2010 and 2011 winner told the Shanghai crowd after his triumph.
Murray's first serve of the match was a thumping ace and he took a grip on the first set at 3-3 when Bautista netted a backhand to lose the first break point of the match.
But Murray, serving at 5-4, lost three set points and got in a tangle on a drop shot to hand Bautista his first break point, which he converted with a strong forehand.
The Briton slammed three consecutive aces for 6-6 and he dominated the tie-break, winning seven points in a row and taking the set with a sizzling backhand return.
A string of Bautista errors put Murray a break up at the start of set two, but to his obvious frustration he gave it straight back with a miscued forehand.
But Bautista twice double-faulted to go a break down before handing over yet another break, making victory a formality for Murray who buried his first championship point.
Edberg landmark
With his 41st tournament victory and sixth this year, Murray joins Stefan Edberg in joint 15th place on the list of Open-era title winners.