Roger Federer beat Gilles Simon of France 7-6 (8/6), 7-6 (7/2) to win the Shanghai Masters and claim the 81st victory of his career on Sunday.

The 17-time Grand Slam winner, who will move up to world number two in the rankings, next week claimed his second straight Masters title after also winning in Cincinnati in August.

Federer has narrow the gap between him and Djokovic in the battle to finish as year-end World No. 1 in the ATP Rankings this season, with 1000 point still up for grabs at the BNP Paribas Masters in Paris and 1,500 points at the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals.

More to follow…