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David Ferrer is the "Marathon Man" of the Shanghai 8

Tennis commentator Barry Millns tells us who is most likely to come out on top if the Shanghai Masters Final goes to five sets

There is nothing quite like an epic five-setter to decide the destiny of a trophy. Two players going full tilt, the crowd totally enthralled and the whole occasion building to a dramatic conclusion with some history on the line, as in this year's final at Wimbledon.

Among other memorable examples that spring to mind: Bjorn Borg beating John McEnroe in 1980 for his fifth Wimbledon title after that amazing fourth set tiebreak; Andre Agassi completing his grand slam collection in 1999 by overcoming Andre Medvedev from two sets to love down at the French Open and Mikhail Youzhny recovering from a similar position to beat Paul Henri-Mathieu in the fifth rubber of the 2002 Davis Cup final.

Since its inception in 2000 two of the Tennis Masters Cup finals have gone the distance, Lleyton Hewitt beating Juan Carlos Ferrero when the event was first staged in Shanghai in 2002 and David Nalbandian coming back all the way to beat Roger Federer for the title two years ago. Interestingly of the current players Hewitt (25-10) and Nalbandian (14-8) have two of the most impressive win-loss records in five set matches, but what of the top eight now battling it out in Shanghai?

Starting with the defending champion, Federer's marathon victory over Rafael Nadal in this year's Wimbledon showpiece was the ninth five-set victory of his career. But the Swiss, currently available at [1.62] to retain the TMC title, has lost 10 others including seven of his last 10.

Andy Roddick [14], also in the Red Group with Federer, has a comparable 9-10 record, while Fernando Gonzalez [14], who won the first five long-distance matches he played, currently stands at 11-11. The only one of their Shanghai quartet who has won more than he has lost is Nikolay Davydenko [130] with an 8-6 record.

As for the Gold Group, only Richard Gasquet [36] has won fewer than 50% of his career five-set matches with a 4-6 mark. Next best is Novak Djokovic at 7-3, while Nadal [9.6] at 9-3 is only bettered in the whole field percentage wise by the man who overcame him in Shanghai, as he did at the US Open, the warrior like David Ferrer [8.8] with an outstanding 6-1 or 86% record.

One of the revelations of the season, Ferrer's immense physical and mental strength have now combined brilliantly to establish him among the world's elite. But for the 25 year-old dog-fighter, whose last five-set victory (and sixth in a row) came from match point down against Nalbandian at the US Open en route to the semi-finals, hard work was not always his forte.

When Ferrer was 17 and looking to make the transition from juniors up to the professional circuit, his lack of self-belief and application led him to hang up his racket. But after spending a week on a building site loading bricks into a wheelbarrow for only a few pesetas, he recognised that tennis offered him a far more lucrative and fulfilling future if he was prepared to work at it - he has ever since.

Away from Shanghai, anyone hoping to do well in the majors or the Davis Cup is going to have to win some five-setters along the way. Back in 1998 Marat Safin announced himself to the wider tennis public by beating Agassi, no less, on his grand slam debut 6-2 in the fifth at the French Open and immediately followed that up by knocking out the defending champion Gustavo Kuerten, also in five sets.

Since then the Russian, despite his reputation for smashing rackets and mental meltdown, has amassed a 26-12 tally of marathon matches, only fractionally lower in ratio than Pete Sampras who totalled 34-15. And while James Blake was 0-9 before beating Fabrice Santoro in five sets at this year's US Open, the man rather surprisingly with a perfect 9-0 winning record when it comes to clinching fifth sets is the talented but inconsistent Czech, Tomas Berdych.

To read more about the Shangahi Masters go to:

http://www.masters-cup.com/1/home/