Andy Murray begins his late-season assault on Novak Djokovic’s world number one ranking at the China Open this week hoping to take a chunk out of the 4,695-point gap separating them.

While on the face of it the gap still looks huge, Djokovic is defending far more points than Murray until the end of the season and he will not be able to defend his China title after withdrawing due to an elbow injury.

Djokovic, 29, finished last season in unstoppable form, winning in China, Shanghai and Paris before claiming the ATP Tour Finals. He has 3,800 points to defend for the rest of the season to Murray’s 1,160.

Should Murray win in China and take the 500 ranking points he would move 1,000 points closer to Djokovic ahead of Shanghai.

Murray said:“I’ve never been there and it’s something I would like to do for the first time, which is maybe more of a motivation for me than some of the guys that have been there before,” he said.

“But I want to finish this year strong. It’s been my best season to date, and I want to try to finish it as best as I can.”

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