Murray breezes into Shanghai final

Andy Murray made light work of his Shanghai Masters semi-final against Juan Monaco, winning 6-4 6-1 to seal his place in Sunday's showpiece.

Murray started strongly before losing his way a little midway through the first set but turned things around to dominate proceedings in the second half of the match.

He will face Roger Federer in the final after the Swiss star overcame second seed Novak Djokovic 7-5 6-4.

British number one Murray looked in control in the opening skirmishes and broke first to put his opponent on the back foot. But, having looked likely to take a stranglehold on the set, he conceded his own serve to Monaco with a double fault.

Then, at 5-4 to Murray and with Monaco serving to level the scores, came the decisive moment. Murray lost a string mid-rally and looked certain to surrender the point but instead lofted a succession of defensive lobs, each of which Monaco failed to put away.

His frustration growing, the Argentinian attempted a riskier shot and promptly hit it too wide to make it 15-15. The mistake gave Murray all the momentum and shattered Monaco's confidence as he made unforced errors twice more on his way to losing game and set.

The Scot became even more dominant in the second set, taking his first two service games with little or no resistance and nicking a break at the first attempt as Monaco continued to make mistakes.

At 3-0 down in the second set Monaco summoned the trainer, a brief interval but one that seemed to settle his nerves as he took the next game with a more solid approach.

It was not enough to halt Murray, though, with another straightforward service game making it 4-1. A further break allowed Murray the chance to serve for a place in the final and he did so emphatically, winning the game to love and closing out with a rare ace.