Forced to play another tiebreaker after wasting four match points, Andy Murray pulled off the best shot of the game — an in-the-corner backhand — that set up a 7-6 (4), 7-6 (5) win over Novak Djokovic for the Cincinnati Masters title.The 21-year-old from Scotland crouched in exultation when he finished it off, then swatted a ball into the stands and hunched over, trying to catch his breath before accepting the crystal trophy shaped like a shield. “It’s huge to win your first sort of major tournament, and to do it in a match like today makes it more special,” Murray said. His breakthrough victory ended a $2.6 million ATP Western & Southern Financial Group Masters that will be remembered more for what it did to the world rankings.Rafael Nadal lost to Djokovic in the semi-finals, but piled up enough rankings points during the week to finally wrest the No. 1 spot from Roger Federer in two weeks. Federer has led the rankings since February 2, 2004, with Nadal right behind him for the last three years.While the quest for No. 1 overshadowed the week, the world’s third-ranked player had a week that’s about as good as it gets — until he met Murray for the second time in two weeks.Last week, Murray changed tactics and beat Djokovic in the quarter-finals at Toronto, his first career win in five matches against the 21-year-old Serb. Djokovic hadn’t lost a set all week in Cincinnati, making for an interesting rematch. “He was making me (have) a lot of unforced errors,” Djokovic said. “He was playing a lot of slices and changing pace to my forehand. I just lost the rhythm.”When the next rankings come out on Monday, Britain’s best player will move up to No. 6, the best of his career.
