Murray claims Shanghai title to move above Federer in rankings

Andy Murray romped to his third straight ATP Tour title and took over as world number three from Roger Federer with a 7-5 6-4 win over Spain’s David Ferrer in the Shanghai Masters final Sunday.

Defending champion Murray added to his wins in Thailand and Japan as he battled past his fifth-ranked opponent in one hour and 45 minutes to claim his eighth Masters crown.

Murray, who is on a 15-match unbeaten run since losing to Rafael Nadal in the semifinals of the U.S. Open, broke after a lengthy first game, but was broken back immediately.

His second breakthrough came in the 11th game as the Spaniard double faulted and Murray served out for the set.

The second followed exactly the same pattern as the first two games were shared on breaks of service, but an error by Ferrer allowed Murray to break again.

He went on to seal victory to overtake Federer in the rankings on the strength of his recent performances.

“It’s been one of the best runs of my life. I’ve played very, very well the last few weeks and I was very nervous today because I wanted to try and win here and defend my title. I’m very happy I managed to come through,” Murray. told AFP.

Ferrer admitted it was “impossible” for him to beat the Scot on his current form and when the new rankings are released Monday Murray will only trail Novak Djokivic and Nadal, who exited early in Shanghai.

Federer will occupy his lowest ranking for eight years, just before he won his first grand slam at Wimbledon.

Meanwhile on the WTA Tour, Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova won her sixth career title with a 6-4 6-1 win over Slovak seventh seed Dominika Cibulkova in the Linz Open in Austria.

It was the Czech star’s first title since her triumph at SW19 in July.

But U.S. Open champion Samantha Stosur lost to Marion Bartoli in the final of the Japan Women’s Open.

The French second seed Bartoli ran out a 6-3 6-1 winner in 74 minutes.