Shanghai: Andy Murray beat Spain's David Ferrer 7-5 6-4 to claim the Shanghai Masters tennis title yesterday and move ahead of Roger Federer in the rankings for the first time in his career.
The victory completed a stunning Asian hat-trick for Murray and allowed the seemingly unstoppable Scot to leapfrog 16-times grand-slam champion Federer into third spot in the ATP list.
Murray's 25th victory from 26 matches sends Federer out of the top three for the first time in eight years.
Third title
Murray has now won three titles in as many weeks on the Asian swing of the ATP World Tour — his best winning streak — after his victories in Bangkok and Tokyo.
"If you finish in front of Federer in a year, then there's not many people in the last five, six, seven years that have been able to say that," said Murray.
"I'm still not guaranteed to finish [the year] at number three; I'm still going to have to win some more matches," the Scot added.
"This is the best tournament run of my life. I was very nervous as I wanted to retain the title."
The victory completed a stunning Asian hat-trick for Murray and allowed the seemingly unstoppable Scot to leapfrog 16-times grand-slam champion Federer into third spot in the ATP list.
Murray's 25th victory from 26 matches sends Federer out of the top three for the first time in eight years.
Third title
Murray has now won three titles in as many weeks on the Asian swing of the ATP World Tour — his best winning streak — after his victories in Bangkok and Tokyo.
"If you finish in front of Federer in a year, then there's not many people in the last five, six, seven years that have been able to say that," said Murray.
"I'm still not guaranteed to finish [the year] at number three; I'm still going to have to win some more matches," the Scot added.
"This is the best tournament run of my life. I was very nervous as I wanted to retain the title."
