After this match, you have to say Djokovic and Murray are the two best returners in the sport.

In the first set alone, of 5 games Djokovic won, 3 were breaks of serve and two were holds.  Murray won 4 breaks of serve and held 3 times.  Both served under 60% first serve and were winning a paltry 50% of first serves while Djokovic won a scant third of second serve points.  Djokovic had been winning close to 90% first serves in previous matches.

Murray was attempting to do to Djokovic what he did to Federer which was attack the second serve and go for huge shots, and for a while, this rattled Djokovic.

At times, this match resembled their US Open encounter.  There, Murray won a marathon first set tiebreak and took a late second set break to go up two sets to none.  However, it helped that the Monday final was windy, and the wind seemed to bother Djokovic more than Murray.  Djokovic would take sets 3 and 4 by breaking early in both sets.  When Murray finally had an early hold in the fifth, he took a stranglehold by breaking early in the fifth as Djokovic showed signs of cramping.

The match had echoes of that.  The second set was more typical as both players held serve far more often.  Murray broke late in a game where Djokovic had a 40-0 lead but then got broken which lead to prodigious racquet smashing, but was unable to serve it out at 54.  Djokovic broke back in a game that featured a tweener and a drop shot that eventually lead to a break and the match went to a tiebreak.  Djokovic had early leads in tiebreak just as he had at the US Open, but Murray kept clawing back, and had several match points.  Djokovic kept his resolve and eventually closed out the second set in a 13-11 tiebreak, and off the match went to a third set.

By that point, it was Murray struggling with cramps, and he was no longer able to keep in long rallies with Djokovic, and sought opportunities to hit hard shots and end points quickly.  While he managed to hold early on, the mistakes piled up and he was broken, and it was only a matter of time before Djokovic, who seemed the fresher of the two, held on for the victory.  This match was the longest played in best of 3 at roughly 3 and a half hours of play.

Murray was denied a third consecutive title at the same tournament and is, so far, winless in Masters 1000, with only Paris remaining as the last Masters 1000 title.  That may be a good shot for Murray should he desire to win that because Federer and Djokovic might be less than keen to do well in Paris given London is the following week.  In past years, there was a week off between Paris and London.  This was removed to give players another week of rest in the off-season.

With that, the 8th of 9 Master 1000 titles was taken by Djokovic, keeping only 3 names in the win column for Masters 1000 titles: Federer, Djokovic, and Nadal.

Federer took Indian Wells, Madrid, and Cincinnati, the most he’s had in a while.  Rafa took Monte Carlo and Rome.  Djokovic took Miami, Toronto, and now, Shanghai.  With this, Djokovic has won 7 of 9 Masters titles.

Although Federer clung to number 1 for one more week to reach the elusive 300 weeks as number 1, it’s Djokovic who has amassed more points since January 1 than anyone and remains the strong favorite to end 2012 as number 1 barring Federer having another amazing end of the year run.  Federer would basically need to win Basel, Paris, and London as he did last year to finish number 1.

Only 200 points now separate Federer and Djokovic which means Federer has to stay ahead of Djokovic every tournament they play to be safe.  It may come down to London to decide who will be this year’s number 1.