Roger defeated in Shanghai final

Roger was defeated by Andy Murray 3-6, 2-6 in the final of the Shanghai Masters today.

Roger had to deal with a break right from the start as he dropped serve in the opening game of the match - from leading 40-15. And unfortunately that was the way the match continued. Roger committed too many unforced errors and even when he placed his shots wunderfully, Murray managed to retrieve the ball from seemingly impossible situations. A second break at the end of the first set made everything clear for Murray.

Roger had two break points in the opening game of the second set, but the Scotsman did not allow him the chance to break him. Roger was troubled by the inconsistency on his groundstrokes, particularly his forehand. Another two break points later Roger still wasn't able to score a break, but lost his own service games to fall behind 1-3 and later 2-6.

"Andy had an outstanding tournament," Roger said. "I thought Andy played great today. He didn't give me many chances." I was missing a few too many shots, which I wish I hadn't because that could have definitely maybe swung momentum around, given me more confidence to play more forward, more attacking. But missing so many important shots really over and over again obviously took a lot of my confidence away. Then the targets seemed to get smaller and smaller. That's definitely his credit, a pity for me."

"I had a good tournament," reflected Federer. "I thought I played well this week. Had some great wins against [Robin] Soderling, [John] Isner, [Andreas] Seppi, also [Novak] Djokovic. I'm very happy with where my game is at. Today could have been better. But, look, Andy was the best player of the tournament so he deserved it."

Roger remains 3-2 ahead of Murray in their final duels including wins over the Scotsman at the 2008 US Open and this year's Australian Open. Thanks to having reached the final, Roger is set to move up to second in the world and has certainly made a solid start into the end of the 2010 season. Next up are Stockholm, Basel, Paris-Bercy and finally the ATP World Tour Finals in London.

Date: 17.10.2010, Source: RF Official and ATP