Jamie Murray and partner Bruno Soares came up against imperious opposition as they were defeated in the final of the Shanghai Masters.
The pair were seeking their fourth men’s doubles title this season but went down in straight sets 6-4 6-2 to Lukasz Kubot and Marcelo Melo on centre court in China.
Previous fixtures between the pairs had proved closer matches - Murray and Soares were winners in Cincinnati earlier this year 7-5 6-7 10-6 – but this was a more one-sided affair.
Kubot and Melo – last year’s runners-up – made it consecutive tournament wins after they emerged victorious from last week’s China Open.
Murray and Soares were broken in the third game of the first, a moment that proved particularly costly seeing as their rivals served out the set without giving away a single break point.
And they didn’t let up in the second, breaking Murray and Soares consecutively to open up an unassailable 5-1 lead before closing out the set and match.
The Polish-Brazilian duo justified their number one seeding and were untouchable on serve, winning 87 percent of their first serve points.
Murray and Soares – who won the Australian and US Open in 2016 – can take heart from the fact that they are guaranteed a place at the ATP Finals in London next month, having reached the semi-finals.
The Scot also went one better than his 2013 performance in Shanghai where he was defeated in the semi-finals alongside John Peers.
Sportsbeat 2018