Murray loses in Shanghai but looks good for more major success

Novak Djokovic fought back from a set down to defeat Andy Murray in a thrilling final at the Shanghai Masters.

The Scot failed to win his third straight title in the Chinese city, but can be backed at 3/1 to bounce back with victory at the ATP tour finals in London.

The end of season competition is held at the O2 Arena at the beginning of November, pitting the eight best singles players in the world against each other.

Having won the last major of 2012 – the US Open – Murray will be filled with confidence in the capital when he takes on the best in the business.

Although the 25-year-old let a one-set lead slip against Djokovic in China to concede the Shanghai Masters, including five match points that went begging.

But Murray will be hoping to push on to bigger and better things in the future, even if at 8/1 he is now an outsider to wrestle the number one spot away from the Serbian at the end of 2012.

Having sampled his first taste of major success at Flushing Meadows, Murray will be focusing on adding more grand slams to his name in 2013.

Odds of 50/1 highlight how difficult it will be for him to complete the set and win the Australian Open, the French Open and Wimbledon in the next 10 months.

However, punters can hold out reasonable hope that Murray breaks another Fred Perry record next year to become the first man to win Wimbledon since 1936 with a price of 3/1.

He can also be backed at 3/1 to win the Australian Open in January, further out at 9/1 to pick up the French Open next summer and 11/4 to retain his US Open crown.

Murray can be found at 11/10 to go major-less in 2013, whilst he is 5/4 to win one slam, 4/1 to secure two, 25/1 to grab a hat-trick and 100/1 to win all four available.

The total number of slams that the Olympic champion achieves in his career is also available for betting, with odds of 5/4 for over 3.5 and 4/7 for under 3.5.

Optimistic Murray fans can back the Glasgow-born hitter to retire with a major haul of seven or more at 33/1, whilst a career ending with just his US Open title is at 6/1.

With Roger Federer’s powers seemingly on the wane and doubts surrounding the durability of Rafael Nadal’s knees, it may be just Djokovic that stands in Murray’s way for future success.

And having answered his critics at the US Open earlier this year, it would seem perilous to back against the determined Briton achieving more major success during the remainder of his playing days.

All Odds and Markets are correct as of the date of publishing