By Chris Oddo | Sunday, October 12, 2014

Roger Federer made the most of his early-week lifeline at the Shanghai Rolex Masters, edging past Gilles Simon 7-6(6), 7-6(2) in the final just five days after having dramatically saved five match points en route to a second-round victory over Argentina’s Leonardo Mayer.

Escape Artist: Federer Saves Match Points to Defeat Mayer

Federer’s victory marks his fourth title of 2014 and the first time he has won back-to-back events at the Masters 1000 level since the beginning of 2012.

Federer had to overcome an early deficit against Simon in the opening set, and even after he rallied from 5-3 down to draw level he once again fell behind in the tiebreaker and was forced to save a set point at 5-6 down.

But after two unreturnable serves Federer was able to claim the opener with a sublime down-the-line backhand pass that eluded the outstretched racquet of the Frenchman.

In the second set Federer would find himself with his back against the wall again, but he wiggled his way out of a difficult final service game, saving two set points to force another tiebreak.

But the tension of a tight contest would be released in the tiebreak, as Federer reeled off the final five points from 2-2 to clinch the victory in one hour and 53 minutes. He turned to his box with arms raised triumphantly in celebration, looking as much shocked that he had finally won Shanghai for the first time as he was thrilled.



The 17-time Grand Slam champion will make his return to No. 2 in the rankings on Monday as a result of his performance, and he claims his 81st career title and 23rd Masters 1000 title to go along with $798,540 in prize money.

Notes, Numbers

Federer leads the tour in overall match wins in 2014 with 61. He also leads the tour in hard court wins (45), top 10 wins (13), Masters 1000 wins (26) and final appearances (9) this season.

The Swiss improves to 5-2 lifetime over Simon with the victory.

At No. 29 in the world, Simon was bidding to become the lowest-ranked champion at the Masters level since 2005.

In addition to taking over the No. 2 ranking on Monday, Federer climbs within 1,000 points of Novak Djokovic for the top spot in the race to London.