Andy Murray still on course to catch Djokovic after winning Shanghai Masters

The world number two was pushed hard in his opening set by Roberto Bautista, who earned a shock semi-final win over Djokovic in the semi-finals.

But after that he raced away with the victory, winning 7-6(1) 6-1.

The victory sees Murray climb to 9,685 points in the Race to London standing, 915 points behind Djokovic's 10,600 - and after the ATP Tour Finals in London next month, those race standings will effectively be the season-ending world rankings.

"The last few months I've played very well in all my tournaments," said Murray.

"I've won a lot of matches and made improvements as well," he added.

"I'm changing the direction of the ball a bit better, moving in behind a bit better, and hitting some bigger serves than I did in the first part of the year."

After a hard-fought opening spell in Sunday's final, Murray earned the opening break of the match to lead 4-3, and went on to serve for the set.

He was pushed hard, however, that game going to deuce before Murray earned a set point only to double fault.

Bautista broke just two points later, leaving Murray roaring at himself in anger.

But the Scot regrouped to play a near-flawless tie-break to claim first blood, then backed it up in the second set with supreme tennis that Bautista simply had no answer for.

"I recovered really well from that," said Murray, saying the manner in which he'd bounced back from the break was his proudest moment of the match, particularly with the three aces he hit in his next service game.

"It was a great match and an amazing performance from him," said Bautista, upbeat after one of the finest tournaments of his career.

If he's to claim the world number one spot before the O2, Murray still needs to win in Vienna and Paris and hope that Djokovic fails to make the final in Paris.

Murray said that the idea of claiming top spot hadn't occurred to him until the last few months.

"My goal wasn't to finish number one at the end of the year," he told Sky Sports.

"980 points or whatever it is doesn't sound loads since you get 1000 for winning a Masters tournament, but that's assuming that Novak doesn't win any matches," chuckled Murray.

Even if those things don't come to pass, however, Murray will still fancy his chances of taking down his arch-rival at the season-ending tournament: in clinching his 13th Masters-series title, Murray showed himself to be indisputably the best player in the world right now on current form.

The Scot insisted that Djokovic's superb indoor record means that the number one spot will probably stay with the Serb for now - but he added that early next season, when he has very few points to defend compared to the world number one, could be his moment to strike.