Murray crushes Federer to get back to winning ways

Andy Murray buried remnants of his 2010 slump by crushing Federer to win his second Masters trophy.

SHANGHAI: Andy Murray buried remnants of his 2010 slump in indisputable fashion Sunday with a crushing 6-3, 6-2 defeat of Roger Federer to win a second Masters trophy of the season with victory in Shanghai.

It took less than 90 minutes for the fourth-ranked Murray to completely re-write his 2010 scenario and earn his second shield of the year -- also recording his second consecutive defeat of the Swiss in a Masters final.

Defeat denied Federer the chance to draw alongside Rafael Nadal on the all-time best of 18 Masters titles.

"It was obviously a very, very good week," said Murray. "The match was, from my side, very solid.  Roger had a couple chances to get back in the first set.

"It was obviously a great, great match for me.  I made few mistakes but as a tournament overall I'm very happy with it," said the player who was ill last week and lost in the Beijing quarter-finals.

“I had to play great to have a chance against Roger. But I was able to do that today."

Murray now stands on a solid 8-5 lifetime record against Federer, who will move back to second in the world Monday behind Nadal thanks to his semi-final defeat of Novak Djokovic, which followed a hammering of two-time Roland Garros finalist Robin Soderling.

But Federer's form tapered away when it counted against Murray, who struck 20 winners, saved six break points and broke four times.

The performance is bound to restore the confidence of the prickly Scot, who was laughingly admonished during the trophy ceremony with pleas from the emcee to promise to smile more on his next visit.

Federer, with 30 unforced errors, saved a match point in the final game before Murray pulled through for victory under the open roof of the Qi Zhong centre.

The defeat dropped Federer to 2-4 in 2010 finals, with Murray improving his overall season record to 41-14.

"I enjoy playing him," said Murray.

"I don't find it easy at all. It's incredibly difficult every time. But I love the challenge of playing against him, I don't fear playing him. I know that I could lose the match easily if I don't play my best.  So maybe every time I go on, I need to play great tennis to win against him. I've played some of my best tennis against Roger."

In August, a fortnight before the start of the US Open, Murray lifted the Toronto trophy at Federer's expense. The 23-year-old Scot lost the Australian Open final to the Swiss in January.

Federer admitted he was outplayed on Sunday. "I know how tough it is to win these Masters titles," said the Swiss.

"Andy had a great effort. I had some chances but I couldn't break through. He played great and didn't give me much. He made me work hard, I couldn't find many great shots, he was too good. But I still had a good week and beat some good players."