Andy Murray and Roberto Bautista Agut will be squaring off for the third time in their careers when they battle for the title at the Shanghai Rolex Masters on Sunday afternoon. Murray is leading the head-to-head series 2-0, having prevailed 6-2, 6-3, 6-2 two years ago at Wimbledon and 6-4, 6-4 last season on the clay courts of Rome.
The 2016 campaign has undoubtedly been one of Murray’s best, with Wimbledon and the Rio Olympics among his five titles. He also finished runner-up at both the Australian Open and French Open. Not only is Murray 64-9 for the season, but he is also an amazing 47-4 in his last 51 matches dating back to the start of the Rome Masters in May. The second-seeded Scot has improved to 21-3 lifetime in Shanghai with straight-set victories this week over Steve Johnson, Lucas Pouille, David Goffin, and Gilles Simon.
Bautista Agut booked an improbable spot in a Masters 1000 final–his first at a tournament of this magnitude–with defeats of Bernard Tomic (via second-set retirement), Taylor Fritz, Viktor Troicki, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, and Novak Djokovic. Not even Djokovic managed to make any set more competitive than 6-4. The 19th-ranked Spaniard is an outstanding 48-19 for the year with two titles, but both of those came in the first five weeks of 2016.
Although it is hard to accomplish anything greater than upsetting the No. 1 player in the world, it has to be said that a win over Murray in the final of a Masters 1000 event would be even more impressive for Bautista Agut. Since the start of the grass-court swing, Murray has been the undisputed best player on tour–by a wide margin. Bautista Agut won’t get the same kind of help that he got from Djokovic on Saturday, and Murray’s march toward the top of the rankings should continue.
Pick: Murray in 2
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