Defending champion Andy Murray crushed Japan’s Kei Nishikori 63, 60 to advance to the final of the Shanghai Rolex Masters. If Murray wins tomorrow, for the first time in his career he’ll pass Roger Federer in the ATP rankings at the No. 3 spot.

Murray also took the time to extinguish a rumor that had him as Novak Djokovic’s best man at his wedding. Has the Serb even set a wedding date? I have not heard.

Murray will play David Ferrer in the final tomorrow.

Here’s Murray’s presser from today:

Q. If you win tomorrow, you’ll go above Federer in the rankings to No. 3. I know you have a career winning record against Federer, but what would that mean to you?
ANDY MURRAY: Well, I mean, obviously that’s something that I’ll been trying to do for these next few months, because I can’t really finish the No. 2 or 1. So it’s just a goal I had for the end of the month.
It would be nice to finish the year off No. 3 if I can because that would be the highest ranking I finished at. It’s not the ultimate goal, but it’s a step in the right direction.

Q. What especially pleased you tonight?
ANDY MURRAY: Yeah, I served well. Got a lot of free points on my serve. Didn’t give him any chances. If you can do that, then you can make life easy for yourself. And because of the courts and the balls are very fast here, if you serve well, you’re going to give yourself opportunities ’cause you can definitely put pressure on guys by getting through a few quick service games.

Q. How tough an opponent could David Ferrer be?
ANDY MURRAY: Well, he’s always tough. He’s No. 5 in the world, so one of the toughest guys on the tour to play against. Yeah, I mean, I played well against him last week. But every match is obviously different. He’s definitely going to be bang up for the match tomorrow.
He’s got a great attitude. He fights, well, right until the end in every single match. It’s definitely a match where if I want to win, I’m going to have to play very, very well.

Q. You do so much work on your serve in practice. There must be days when you’re frustrated when it doesn’t go in. Does that make nights like tonight particularly satisfying?
ANDY MURRAY: Well, I mean, you can’t serve well every single day, just like you can’t hit any of your groundstrokes well or return well. You know, you can’t serve well every single day. But obviously if you can, you know, have nights like tonight, it’s nice. You want to try to have as many of them as possible.
But, yeah, I practice my serve a lot. It’s a shot that, when it’s going well, I can get a lot of free points off. But I also think when I don’t serve well, I find other ways to win matches by breaking serve, making a lot of balls from the back of the court.
So obviously it’s a big weapon when it’s working well.

Q. What did you specifically do well against him last week? Given the conditions and the balls are different here, will that mean a major tactical change or much more of the same?
ANDY MURRAY: Well, last week I got a good start and made sure I kept hitting my groundstrokes ’cause against him, if you leave the ball short in the court, he has one of the most accurate forehands on the tour. So he can make you do a lot of running with that.
I think he served better this week, because he’s probably getting an extra maybe 10 kilometers an hour on his serve because of the ball. So it will definitely be harder to break him.
But, yeah, I mean, the main thing is just to make sure you’re not leaving the ball in the middle of the court. You need to try to dictate as many points as you can. I managed to do that last week. But I’m sure he’ll try and make some changes.

Q. How are you feeling psychologically? Are you quite confident you can continue your form?
ANDY MURRAY: Yeah. I’ve been playing well. Just trying to go each match at a time, not get ahead of myself. Had quite a few late nights. Just quite looking forward to going to my bed and getting myself ready for tomorrow.

Q. Rumors that Djokovic is going to have his wedding very soon and named you as the best man of his wedding.
ANDY MURRAY: No, he hasn’t. I don’t know where that came from.

Q. That’s not true?
ANDY MURRAY: No.

Q. Last week in Beijing some players pointed out the number of the audience inside the court is not that big, not too many people, even for the finals. Are you satisfied with what the court looked like today in Shanghai?
ANDY MURRAY: Was I satisfied?

Q. Because the people inside the court is not that many.
ANDY MURRAY: Yeah, I got that. What’s the question?

Q. Are you satisfied with today’s audience?
ANDY MURRAY: Yeah, I don’t mind. I mean, obviously if you play in front of a full crowd, that makes for a better atmosphere. But it’s not down to me. I just need to get on with my job and try and win. But every player probably likes playing in front of a full stadium.

Filed under: Shanghai
Tags: Andy Murray