• Shanghai Masters

Magnificent Murray claims Asian hat-trick

Andy Murray has won 25 of his last 26 matches © PA Photos

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Andy Murray will overtake Roger Federer in the world rankings after beating David Ferrer to successfully defend his Shanghai Masters crown.

The British No. 1 saw off the challenge of a determined Ferrer 7-5 6-4 to claim his fifth title of the year, which will see him move up to world No. 3 when the rankings are published on Monday.

Murray is in red-hot form after picking up titles in Thailand and Japan in the last fortnight, and he got off to an ideal start in the final in China as he grabbed an early break after a lengthy opening game.

But if Murray thought he was going to have things easy, he was mistaken as Ferrer bounced back immediately to level. After the early exchange of breaks, play went with serve as neither player was able to find a breakthrough.

But just as the set looked to be heading for a tiebreak, Ferrer suffered a momentary lapse in concentration at 5-5, and Murray pounced to grab break point, only for the Spaniard to double fault at the crucial moment, and Murray gratefully accepted the opportunity to chance to out the set.

In a repeat of the opening stages of the match, Murray claimed an early break in the second set, only for Ferrer to reply immediately. However this time, Murray broke once again to tighten his grip on the match.

Ferrer battled valiantly, scurrying around the court to retrieve Murray's spectacular array of groundstrokes, dropshots and passes, but the No. 2 seed was unyielding as he marched towards a 15th consecutive victory.

"It has been one of the best runs of my life; I played very well the last few weeks," Murray said. "I was very nervous today because I wanted to try and win here and defend my title, but I'm very happy I managed to come through."

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.