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Murray to face Federer in Shanghai final • World No4 beats Juan Mónaco 6-4, 6-1 in semi-finals• Scot 'really enjoys' playing Federer, who saw off DjokovicHe walked in reading his mobile phone, and walked out reading his mobile phone. It is fair to say Andy Murray is feeling pretty relaxed about playing Roger Federer in the final of the Shanghai Masterstomorrow.Novak Djokovic, who lost the other semi-final and his No2 ranking to Federer, might have appeared the marginally softer option, but not to Murray.Not long after the Scot had thrashed his old friend Juan Mónaco 6-4, 6-1 in front of a buzzing audience in the splendid 15,000-seater showpiece stadium of the Qizhong Centre today, Murray explained why he is relishing another showdown with Federer.He'd played him in two Grand Slam finals, he said, and, although he lost both times, he had finally come to realise he needed to be more aggressive against Federer and Rafael Nadal. He subsequently beat both of them in the same tournament with that attitude and strategy in the Masters 1000 tournament in Toronto this summer.After two years in the top five, most of that time at No4 with two brief spells at No2, Murray feels comfortable among the game's elite and is by some way Britain's most consistently successful player in the modern era. The way he is playing, after a slump and a virus, he expects his best tennis to come when he plays the best players."I really enjoy playing Roger," Murray said, not a sentiment that would spring to mind among many of his contemporaries. "It's a great experience every time you get to play against him."Still, he didn't half mind playing Mónaco, whom he has known since they were teenage prodigies together in Spain. They went into the semi-final – Mónaco's first at this level, Murray's fifth of the year – 1-1 in career matches, but parity was parked at the door this time.From the moment he took the first game to love until he aced Mónaco with the final shot of the match 85 minutes later, Murray controlled nearly every passage of an entertaining if ultimately one-sided contest.Mónaco, who had seen off Nadal's conqueror, Jürgen Melzer, in a fascinating quarter-final, had little left. The match turned on one remarkable rally in the first set. Mónaco was serving at 4-5 and had Murray pinned way behind the baseline, but the Scot, with a busted string, retrieved three smashes and could hardly believe it when the Argentinian belted the last one long.That single exchange devastated Mónaco. "What happened?" he said, in answer to the obvious. "On the other side of the net was Andy Murray. I lost focus and he made an unbelievable point – with a broken string. I had five [actually three] smashes and I couldn't finish the point. He broke, and won the set."At the beginning of the second set, my legs started feeling very tired, so I had very few chances after that and didn't take any of them. Andy played very well today."Certainly Murray should push Federer more vigorously than did Djokovic today. Federer won 7-5, 6-4, despite dropping serve in the second set. He is on the rise again.Andy MurrayTennisKevin Mitchellguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
Halftime: Don't knock Giants for not being gigantic As they await the start of the World Series in their town on Wednesday the Giants are being described as something just short of a vaudeville ... rssfeeds.usatoday.com |