Murray wins at Shanghai Masters

Tennis
Andy Murray produced a convincing display to beat Jerzy Janowicz 7-5, 6-2 in the second round of the Shanghai Masters in China.

LONDON — Andy Murray produced a convincing display to beat Jerzy Janowicz 7-5, 6-2 in the second round of the Shanghai Masters in China.

The Scot impressed from the start and lost just four points on his serve during the opening set. Murray saved two break points with aces at the start of the second set and broke Janowicz in the fourth and eighth games on his way to victory. The 27-year-old will now play Spaniard David Ferrer in the third round.

Fifth seed Ferrer earned a 4-6, 7-6 (7-4) 6-4 win over Martin Klizan, who served for the match at 6-5 up in the second set before failing to hold and losing the tie-break.

Top seed Novak Djokovic won his second-round match in straight sets, overcoming Austria’s Dominic Thiem 6-3, 6-4.

The Serb will meet Ferrer or Murray in the quarter-finals if he beats the unseeded Mikhail Kukushkin of Kazakhstan in round three.

However, in the other half of the draw, world number two Rafael Nadal — playing despite being diagnosed with appendicitis — bowed out 6-3, 7-6, (8-6) to fellow Spaniard Feliciano Lopez.

Murray is currently ninth in the standings and Ferrer 10th as both bid to try to get into the top eight and secure a spot at the ATP Finals in London during November.

Murray is currently ninth in the race to reach the November ATP Finals — the top eight qualify for the season-ending event.

However, Murray might need to rise to seventh with the eighth spot going to a 2014 Grand Slam champion ranked between eighth and 20th. Croat Marin Cilic, who won the US Open, is currently ranked sixth.

His hopes of qualifying for the finals were boosted by defeats for two of his closest rivals — Milos Raonic, eighth in the standings, retired when 5-2 down to Juan Monaco, while Grigor Dimitov, in 11th, lost 7-5, 6-3 to Julien Benneateu.

“All of the players that are looking to qualify for the World Tour Finals will be aware of what’s going on,” Murray told the ATP tour website.

“But you need to just concentrate on trying to win your matches. That’s the best thing that you can do for your chances to qualify.

“It is just giving me a little bit of extra focus and direction for the last few tournaments.”

— BBC Sport

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