Murray eyes third successive Shanghai crown after overpowering Federer

(CNN) -- Andy Murray maintained his bid to win a third successive Shanghai Masters title with a comfortable win over Roger Federer in Saturday's semifinal.

The Scot wasted little time in overpowering the current world No.1, easing to a straight sets 6-4 6-4 victory in one hour 38 minutes.

The 25-year-old was gifted a crucial break in the first set when Federer served three double faults on the bounce in the fifth game.

Murray took full advantage of the uncharacteristic slip, closing out the set without alarm.

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Federer was put under pressure again at the start of the second, saving seven break points to win the opening game. But it wasn't long before Murray's aggressive returning paid dividends.

At 40-0 up in the fifth game, the 31-year-old Swiss was cruising before Murray fought back to earn a break point which he took with a devastating forehand return.

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Two rain delays in the second set failed to upset the Scot's rhythm who calmly served out the match.

"[Federer] didn't serve that well for him tonight so I was able to be very aggressive on his second serve," Murray said afterwards.

"He maybe slowed down his first serve a little bit so I was able to take a few more chances on the first serve. Obviously that helped. But, yeah, I went for it like I did the last few times I played against him."

Murray will meet Novak Djokovic in Sunday's final -- the Serb completing an easy win over Tomas Berdych earlier in the day.

The world No.2, who has yet to drop a set at the tournament, broke the Czech's first service game to immediately gain the upper hand.

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The Serb claimed another break of serve early in the second to canter home 6-3 6-4 in 85 minutes.

"Tomas is in great form in the last couple of months. He's always a difficult player to play against on any surface because he has a very powerful serve and great forehand," Djokovic said.

"I played tactically right. I was putting a lot of returns into the court, making a lot of pressure on his serve. On the other hand, I was serving well when I needed to," he added.

Djokovic currently leads Murray 8-7 in head-to-head match ups, but the Scot looks favorite given his recent successes over the Serb in the semifinal of the Olympics tournament in August and in the final of the U.S. Open last month.

"I've known him for 14, 15 years now. We've obviously had some incredibly tough matches which can maybe test a friendship. But we've always been, I think, pretty respectful of each other," Murray said.