Andy Murray faces tough route to final of Paris Masters
Thursday 5 November 2015 14:10, UK
Andy Murray is entering an important week at the Paris Masters as he competes in the final tournament of the regular season on the ATP World Tour.
Number two seed Murray will be playing for the first time since losing badly in the Shanghai semi-finals last month against Novak Djokovic, who has won this tournament on three occasions.
He has defeated Borna Coric and David Goffin so far in the tournament.
If the British number one is to advance to the final, he will have to get past some of the world's best players. Here is what his potential route to victory would look like:
Quarter-final - Richard Gasquet (France)
Murray will next play Gasquet, the home player whose left-handed style is one of the sport's most stylish techniques.
Gasquet profited from Kei Nishikori's retirement in their third-round contest, although the Frenchman was winning 7-6 4-1 at the time.
Murray has won six out of his nine matches with Gasquet, including most recently in Cincinnati.
Semi-final - Roger Federer (Switzerland)
Roger Federer comes into the tournament in terrific form, having defeated Rafael Nadal in three sets to win the final of the ATP 500 Basel on Sunday.
Unsurprisingly, Federer holds the edge over Murray in their meetings to date, winning 14 of their 25 meetings with Murray winning 11.
Murray did well against Federer early in his career but has lost their last five meetings, including a 6-0, 6-1 drubbing at the ATP World Tour Finals last year and a straight-sets semi-final defeat at Wimbledon this summer.
Final - Novak Djokovic (Serbia)
If Murray does manage to negotiate his way through to the final, he is likely to find world No 1 Djokovic waiting for him.
The Serbian superstar is bidding to make in history in Paris by becoming the first player to win six ATP World Tour Masters 1000 titles in one season.
Although Murray has defeated Djokovic in the final of both of his Grand Slam victories at the US Open and Wimbledon, he has a poor record against him overall, losing 20 of their 29 encounters.
Murray ended a run of eight straight defeats to Djokovic when he defeated him in the Canadian Masters in August but lost their most recent encounter at the Shanghai Masters in straight sets.
Watch the Paris Masters on Sky Sports all this week.
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