Shanghai Masters: Andy Murray to face Roberto Bautista Agut in final after Novak Djokovic shock exit
Djokovic, the world no 1, was dumped out by 15th seed Bautista Agut
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Your support makes all the difference.Andy Murray will face Roberto Bautista Agut in the Shanghai Masters final after the Spaniard pulled off a huge shock by knocking out Novak Djokovic.
World number one Djokovic was a comfortable favourite to reach a 10th final of the season, but was dispatched in straight sets at the semi-final stage by the 15th seed.
A 6-4 6-4 success was a real landmark win for the 28-year-old Bautista Agut.
Prior to this clash, he had a 0-5 losing record against Djokovic and a 0-5 record when playing world number ones.
He showed no regard for the statistics, though, and broke the Serb four times during what is arguably the best win of his career.
Bautista Agut must now beat Murray if he is to lift the title.
"I can't describe how I feel. I'm so happy," the Spaniard said.
"I played really good tennis this week, and I hope to play the same tennis tomorrow in the final.
"I tried to force him to play his best tennis. I think in the first set he played some good tennis. He played a little bit better than me.
"But then I knew that I had to increase my level. I had to play more aggressive... And then at 5-4, I started to play more aggressive and I started to play better tennis."
For his part, Murray progressed to a second successive final in Asia after a 6-4 6-3 win over Gilles Simon.
Neither man could hold onto their serve with seven breaks inside the first 10 games of the match before Murray took a hold of the set.
Murray - chasing the world number one spot - went 5-1 up in the second set before dropping serve, before regrouping to get over the line.
Murray told Sky Sports: "I said that I want to try to get to number one, but this year is going to be extremely difficult.
"The loss (by Djokovic) today helps me a little bit, but I'm still quite far away from him, so I'm not thinking about the number one ranking this week or right now.
"The start of the year Novak had was incredible and because it was three, four months ago, it's almost like people are forgetting that he won the Aussie Open, Indian Wells, Miami, Madrid and French Open, so he's a long way ahead of me.
"I just want to finish this year as best as I can, it's been the most successful in my career. The last few months have been some of the most consistent I have been, so I just want to keep it going until the end of the year and finish as strong as possible."
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