Murray To Face Bautista Agut In Shanghai Final

First-time ATP World Tour Masters 1000 finalist Roberto Bautista Agut and two-time Shanghai Rolex Masters champion Andy Murray meet in Sunday’s championship match. This is the third meeting between the two and Murray owns a 2-0 record, winning at 2014 Wimbledon and 2015 Munich, both in straight sets. Both players have not dropped a set en route to the final. They each have been broken four times while each breaking opponents 17 times. The No. 15-seeded Bautista Agut is trying to become the first Spaniard to win the title in the tournament’s eight year history. Nadal was runner-up in 2009 and Ferrer in 2011. Murray, who won titles in 2010-11, is making his fourth Shanghai final appearance (2-1). He is attempting to join Djokovic as the only three-time champions.

Bautista Agut defeated reigning Shanghai champion and World No. 1 Djokovic in the semi-finals and last year’s finalist Tsonga in the quarter-finals. He is trying to become the first player outside the Top 10 to beat the top two ranked players in the same tournament since No. 21 David Nalbandian beat No. 1 Federer in the third round, No. 2 Nadal in final at 2007 ATP World Tour Masters 1000 Paris. The 28-year-old Spaniard came into Shanghai No. 17 in the Emirates ATP Race to London and he has improved to No. 13. If he wins the title, he will jump to No. 10 in the race standings. The last ATP World Tour Masters 1000 champion outside the Top 15 was No. 26 Ivan Ljubicic at Indian Wells in 2010.

Bautista Agut is appearing in his fourth ATP World Tour final of the season (2-1) and 10th in his career (5-4). He is 6-30 in his career vs. Top 10 opponents (3-7 this year) and he’s trying to earn back-to-back Top 10 wins for the first time. His 48 match wins in 2016 is a personal-best.

Murray comes in with a nine-match winning streak (18-0 in sets) after capturing his 40th career title in Beijing last Sunday. He is appearing in his career-best 10th final of the season (5-4). He is trying to win a sixth title this year for the first time since 2009. He is also appearing in his 20th career ATP Masters 1000 final (12-7) and 62nd in his career (40-21). If Murray wins his 41st career title, he will tie former Swedish No. 1 Stefan Edberg for 15th place on the Open Era titles list. He would also earn his 617th career match win and surpass former Aussie No. 1 Lleyton Hewitt for 20th place on the Open Era match wins list. Murray came into Shanghai 1,555 race points behind No. 1 Djokovic and he could cut the gap to 915 points by winning the title.

INFOSYS ATP SCORES & STATS: Tournament statistics entering the championship match (+ leads tournament):