Murray repeats Olympic dose to set up Djokovic final

SHANGHAI: Andy Murray heaped the misery on Roger Federer on Saturday, taking advantage of an astonishing service meltdown by the Swiss great at the Shanghai Masters to set up a repeat of the US Open final against Novak Djokovic.
The US Open champion, who has never been beaten at the Chinese tournament, won 6-4, 6-4, repeating his victory in the Olympic final that came after the searing pain of defeat to Federer just weeks earlier at Wimbledon.The pair swapped breaks at the start of the match but the first set hinged on an incredible fifth game when 17-time Grand Slam champion Federer was broken to love after the normally ice-cool Swiss double-faulted three times in a row. After taking the first set Murray, who won the Shanghai Masters in 2010 and 2011, immediately put the world number one under the cosh at the start of the second set but the Swiss dug deep to save seven break points and edge ahead.But Federer, 31, continued to struggle and it was the fifth game of the second set that again proved pivotal, with the 25-year-old Scot sealing a break against the Swiss, who had led 40-0, with a devastating forehand return winner.Murray faced an agonising wait of more than half an hour to serve for the match as the magnolia-shaped roof at the Qi Zhong Stadium was closed after it started raining and an army of people descended on the court to dry the playing surface.The players left the court and had to knock up again but third seed Murray kept his nerve to serve out for victory, sealing the match when Federer netted. Earlier, in-form Djokovic accelerated his push for the year-end number one ranking, dismissing the challenge of fourth seed Tomas Berdych in a one-sided match.The Serbian second seed came into the clash with an impressive 9-1 lead against the Czech player in head-to-head match-ups and immediately took charge, dominating the contest to win 6-3, 6-4.Djokovic, who won last week's China Open, faded towards the end of a stellar 2011 but looks fresh as he hunts down Federer at the top of the rankings.The Serbian leads Murray 8-7 in head-to-heads ahead of Sunday's final. Their last meeting was in the US Open final in New York, which Murray won in five sets to win his first Grand Slam.