Novak Djokovic did what he does best, which is play his best tennis when backed into a corner. The Serbian world number two saved five match points to eventually prevail over Andy Murray 5-7, 7-6 (11), 6-3 and lift the Shanghai Masters title.
Murray looked on his way to clinching his third-straight crown in Shanghai, after taking the first set, but Djokovic typically refused to lie down and hand the Scot the victory, fighting back brilliantly to take the second in a close tie breaker, before holding his nerve in the final set.
"It's difficult to judge who was better because it was so close throughout the whole match," Djokovic said. "We had so many rallies in three and a half hours for best of three set match is a very long time.
"Could have easily gone the other way. He was five match points up. When I faced those match points, I tried to focus on each individually. He was so close to the victory that I cannot say I was the better player.
"I won the match. But, you know, as spectators could see, we were very close. It was a very even match throughout the whole three sets."
Murray had beaten Djokovic in the U.S. Open final to claim his first Grand Slam title, but in Shanghai it was the Serbian who came out smiling. With the victory, Djokovic became the first ever player to win seven of the nine Masters titles on offer, and also closed the gap on Roger Federer for the world number one ranking, after the Swiss lost to Murray in the semi-finals.
"I've had an unbelievable season," Djokovic added. "Comparing to 2011, results wise maybe wasn't at the top, because I had three Grand Slam titles, this year I have only one.
"But I've had an incredible year. We have to pay a little bit of respect to the other players. They've had an amazing year also.
"At this level you cannot expect to win all the matches. With this Asian swing so far, maybe comparing to 2011 also it's one of the best years I've had in my life. So I'm enjoying this moment. I'm enjoying every match that I play against them.
"Over the course of a couple of years before 2011, I was losing most of my matches against top guys, especially important matches. Then that changed. In 2011, I won basically all the matches I played against them.
"This year, it's quite even with all of them. I'm enjoying my time. I'm playing well and I have a confidence."
In the mens' doubles final the team of Leander Paes and Radek Stepanek got the better of Indian duo Mahesh Bhupathi and Rohan Bopanna 6-7 (7), 6-3, 10-5.
