The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Murray edges nearer top spot in world rankings
Scots ace closes gap to Djokovic after victory in Shanghai
Andy Murray has closed the gap to Novak Djokovic in the ATP rankings to less than 2,500 points as he bids to become world number one for the first time.
Murray clinched his sixth title of the year on Sunday after beating Spaniard Roberto Bautista Agut in the final of the Shanghai Masters.
Bautista Agut had beaten Djokovic in the semi-finals of that tournament, and that has helped second-placed Murray cut the gap to the Serbian in the latest world rankings, which were released yesterday.
Murray has 10,485 points following his Shanghai triumph.
Djokovic – who has won seven titles this year, including the French Open and the Australian Open – is top with 12,900 points.
Wimbledon and Olympic champion Murray, 29, was almost 9,000 points adrift of Djokovic in April and more than 4,500 points behind just a month ago.
With Djokovic now set to take some time off before returning at the BNP Paribas Masters in Paris at the end of this month, Murray could further cut the 12-time grand slam winner’s advantage at next week’s Erste Bank Open in Vienna – a tournament the Scot won in 2014.
And should Murray claim both titles in Austria and France he could end Djokovic’s 27-month reign as world number one as early as November 7, although that will depend also on the 29-year-old Serbian not reaching the final in Paris.
In third place in the ATP rankings is US Open champion Stan Wawrinka.
However, the Swiss is well adrift of the top two on 5,820 points.