Andy Murray returns to world No 2 for Shanghai Masters
Monday 12 October 2015 18:17, UK
Andy Murray returns to action as the world No 2 at the Shanghai Rolex Masters as he looks to maintain momentum from his Davis Cup heroics.
The Scot, who led Great Britain to their first Davis Cup final since 1978, overtakes reigning Shanghai champion Roger Federer for a week at least due to changes in the tour calendar, with the season's penultimate 1000 event starting a week later.
Murray is up against fierce competition as he looks to regain the title he previously captured in 2010 and 2011, with all of the other top 20 players in the 'race' to the World Tour Finals in attendance.
Can Federer defend his title? Sky Bet are enhancing his odds from 100/30 to 4/1.
Four places are still up for grabs for the season-ending showcase at the O2 Arena, with Murray having already booked his place and looking likely to compete reluctantly, less than a week before the Davis Cup final on Belgium's clay-courts.
The ranking change, which comes into effect on Monday, was not early enough to prevent favourite Novak Djokovic from being was placed in his half of Saturday's draw.
Djokovic heads Sky Bet's Shanghai Masters outright at even-money, with Federer (7/2) and Murray (6/1) considered the Serb's main competition, with all over players 14/1 or longer.
Along with the other top eight, Murray receives a bye into the second round, where he will either face a first meeting with Steve Johnson and or an eighth with Andreas Seppi.
The Italian won their first meeting back in 2006 in Nottingham but has only taken a set since, although that did come in their last meeting at Wimbledon this year.
13th seed John Isner, who Murray leads 4-0, is his most likely third-round opponent before the competition really cranks up, with Tomas Berdych the top-seeded potential quarter-final opponent.
Murray has typically struggled against the powerful Czech but has levelled their head-to-head to 6-6 with wins in Melbourne and Miami this year.
Then will surely await the ultimate challenge in the sport in facing world No 1 Djokovic.
The Serb has racked up seven titles and a 67-5 record in 2015 but, having won their previous eight clashes, was defeated by Murray in their last meeting in Montreal.
Federer heads the other side of the field and has been at his best in the shorter-format events this year, racking up a 19-1 record and three titles in non-Grand Slam hard-court events.
Kei Nishikori is the second seed in the bottom quarter but is short of form, having lost to world no 32 Benoit Paire in his last two events.
Federer's great nemesis Rafael Nadal (leads H2H 21-10) is joined in the third quarter by Stan Wawrinka.
Watch the Shanghai Masters live on Sky Sports all week from 6.30am.
