Murray, Djokovic go head-to-head at Paris Masters

The top-ranked Serb made light work of Murray in the Paris Masters final, beating the second-seeded Briton 6-2, 6-4 for his 10th title of an outstanding year that now includes a record six Masters titles to add to his three Grand Slam wins.

Should Murray win the title this week in Paris-Bercy, the Dunblane native will be guaranteed the year-end No. 2 spot in the Emirates ATP Rankings for the first time in his career.

“This is a tournament I’ve struggled at in the past”. The Swiss star managed to get back into the match as he went on to secure back to back breaks, he was digging deep into his reserves and managed to force a decider whilst saving a number of break back points along the way. Ferrer got the break back midway through the first set as a few mistakes started to creep into the Scot’s game.

“It wasn’t pleasant, but I knew that I have a good return. I think that was strengthened even more after the Roland Garros final”. But the Czech player wasted two more set points with over-hit forehands.

Murray broke again in the first game of the second set to stamp home his authority.

That prevented the 28-year-old Serb from completing his career haul of Grand Slam titles. He won the Australian and US Opens as well as Wimbledon.

After the match, Murray revealed a positive approach had paid off against Ferrer.

Murray also let slip a 3-1 lead in the tie-break and had to save a set-point at 5-6, but the second seed pushed Gasquet into making errors off his forehand side and he finally edged it 9-7.

Murray had never previously gone beyond the quarter-finals of the Paris Masters, but his 6-4 6-3 victory over David Ferrer took him into a final showdown with Novak Djokovic.

That included a second set point at 7-6 where Djokovic won two straight from Berdych’s serve to get his first crack at match point. “After that it was a little bit up and down”, Murray said. I just managed to fight through in the end.

“I have a very special relationship with Stan, like no other top player”, Djokovic said.

Isner jumped out into a 5-2 lead in the tie-break before Ferrer pulled back, but it was the American who levelled the set scores against all the odds.

“As a result, I was able to serve bigger and more consistently than yesterday and earn more free points”.

He has already struck a psychological blow for the Brits, blasting aside Belgian David Goffin in straight sets, and further sharpened his skills with victories over Richard Gasquet and David Ferrer en-route to the final.