Murray ousted at Masters Cup

Nov 15, 2008 - 4:51 PM By Andrew Mullen PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

SHANGHAI, China (Ticker) -- Andy Murray had no regrets after his Masters Cup bid came to an end Saturday against Nikolay Davydenko in the semifinals.

The British No. 1 failed to match the heights of Friday's thrilling epic win over Roger Federer which eliminated the two-time defending champion, losing, 7-5, 6-2, to the Russian world No. 5.

Murray understandably lacked his usual flair after his exploits against Federer as Davydenko advanced to Sunday's final, where he will face Australian Open champion Novak Djokovic, who earlier beat Frenchman Gilles Simon, 4-6, 6-3, 7-5.

"I beat probably the best player of all time, I have no regrets about doing that," said Murray, referring to Friday's win over Federer. "To beat him means a similar amount to winning a tournament like this.

"Ideally I would have liked to have beaten him easier and given myself a slightly better chance to prepare for this match. But I don't like losing, so I'm not going to. I'm proud that I gave 110 percent. I think other players might not have taken that option, but I'm happy that I did."

The defeat brought to an end a breakthrough year for Murray in which he rose from 11th in the world to fourth with two Masters Series wins in Cincinnati and Madrid and his maiden Grand Slam final appearance at the U.S. Open.

In-form Murray topped his group with the only 100 percent record, but was visibly tired from the off against Davydenko and that was not helped as the opening three games lasted 25 minutes.

Both players lost early service games in the first set, but Davydenko crucially broke again for a 6-5 lead after successfully challenging a Murray ace at break point.

And after taking the first set in 62 minutes, Davydenko breezed through the second virtually unchallenged with two breaks against a fading Murray.

Murray racked up just seven winners compared to 33 from Davydenko, although the Scot had a slightly better unforced error count.

"I don't want to try to make excuses. He played much better than me," Murray said. "In the circumstances, naturally I was going to be tired. I did the best that I could with what I had. I just felt a little bit tired.

"He's a tough guy to play against if you're not feeling like you can chase every ball down. He doesn't miss a whole lot. He takes the ball so early. I thought he played really, really well, and I couldn't get much going because he was making me do a lot of running."

After losing to Murray in Doha at the start of the year, Davydenko gained revenge in Dubai in March and always admitted he fancied his chances against the Scot.

Davydenko secured his semifinal berth on Thursday after beating Argentina's Juan Martin del Potro and admitted his extra day's rest combined with Murray's exploits against Federer worked in his favor.

"Murray wanted to show everyone he is the best player because he beat Federer," Davydenko said. "And maybe he was tired, recovering in 24 hours after a three-hour match is very difficult.

"Federer helped me to win the match. It was a very tough match and Murray was very tired and he wasn't 100 percent fit. But he surprised me; he was running to every ball and played the same game he did last time we met.

"He did maybe make more mistakes, but he ran for an hour and a half. He still had the power."

Davydenko will now quickly turn his attentions to Djokovic, and despite the Serb recording a three-sets win in the round-robin stage earlier this week, he is confident of becoming the first Russian Masters Cup champion.

"Djokovic may have more confidence in the final," said Davydenko, who beat the Serb in their only meeting earlier this year during Davis Cup play. "But he didn't play well today. He was not consistent, not in every game and on every point.

"If he plays the same maybe I have a chance. I lost 7-5 in the third set against him earlier, but it is a different situation, this is a final."