Shanghai Masters 2015: Andy Murray blown away by Novak Djokovic in semi-finals

What a difference a day makes. Twenty-four hours after beating Tomas Berdych with one of his most impressive displays of the year, Andy Murray found himself on the wrong end of an equally dominant performance by Novak Djokovic here. They might be No 1 and No 2 in the world rankings, but there was a chasm between the two men as Djokovic crushed Murray 6-1 6-3 in the semi-finals of the Shanghai Rolex Masters.

Djokovic, who will meet Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the final after the Frenchman beat Rafael Nadal 6-4 0-6 7-5, was at his brilliant best as he won his 16th match in succession and reached his 13th final in a row. The 28-year-old Serb has lost just five of the 77 matches he has played this year.

After ending a run of eight successive losses to Djokovic in their previous meeting in Montreal two months ago, Murray suffered his heaviest defeat to his rival in eight years. Djokovic, who now leads their head-to-head 20-9, served superbly throughout and was ruthlessly aggressive, charging into the net and volleying in a style of which his coach, Boris Becker, would have been proud.

Murray, in contrast, served poorly. The Scot, who made 30 unforced errors (to Djokovic’s seven), served six double faults and dropped his serve five times.

“I served poorly in the first set,” he said. “You can’t afford that against Novak with the way he’s playing and the conditions here. You’ve got to do better. I made it extremely difficult. If you show a bit of weakness, the best players feel it and pounce.”