Andy Murray was pleased to have come back from a shaky start against Gilles Simon to book his place in Sunday's Shanghai Masters final.

The second seed was broken in the opening game of the semi-final in China, but rallied well to level at 2-2 before taking three games off Simon to secure the first set.

Murray raised his game in the second and raced into a 5-1 lead as Simon struggled to keep pace, the world number two eventually cruising to a 6-4 6-3 triumph.

"Obviously I went a break down quite early but thankfully I got that back quite quick," he said in his on-court interview.

"But it was a tough match because neither of us were comfortable on serve, [there were] a lot of breaks, and it's always a tough match up against him because of the way he plays. 

"He's got a very different style to a lot of players, he hits the ball very flat so it's not always easy to hit winners past him so I was pleased I got through it.

"In the second set I upped my level, raised the intensity in some of the important moments and it was good."

The expected final with Novak Djokovic will not happen, though, after the Serbian was beaten by Roberto Bautista Agut – a man Murray knows will not make it easy in Sunday's final.

"He's obviously playing very well this year but especially this week, he's had some great wins," added the Briton.

"Obviously against Novak today and [Jo-Wilfried] Tsonga the round before. He's pushing to try and finish in the top eight and has an outside shot of making the Masters Cup so there's a lot for us both to play for. 

"I expect a very tough match."