Night, knight DJOKOVIC ENDS MURRAY 28-GAME UNBEATEN RUN

SIR ANDY MURRAY saw his 28-match winning streak come to an end as Novak Djokovic won the Qatar Open.

Murray fought hard to maintain his record, and battled from a break down in the second set to force a decider.

The Brit remains World No.1, despite the 6-3, 5-7, 6-4 defeat by the Serbian World No.2.

Murray managed to save three match points to come from a set and a break down to win the second set and level the match.

But Djokovic broke in game seven of the decider to win in two hours, 54 minutes.

Both will now head down to Melbourne for the Australian Open, the year’s first Grand Slam, starting on January 16.

Murray admitted the match had been “a tough one to lose”, but remained optimistic.

“We both played some high-level tennis and it was getting physically tough out there. But it was a good way to start the new year and I’m looking forward to playing again in the next few weeks.” Murray had won the last time they met at the ATP Tour Finals in November, a victory that kept him in top spot, coming into yesterday’s 36th meeting.

But Murray has never beaten Djokovic after losing the first set and a number of unforced errors left him trailing and let the Serb break in the eighth game

He broke again in the second set and was serving for the match at 5-3, but Murray battled back and then came back to level the score.

Djokovic looked to be tiring in the third and was 0-30 on his own serve at 3-2 down, but he came back to hold and then broke Murray for the third time in the match, as he won his second title in Doha.

“This is a dream start to the year too win here, against the biggest rival,” said Djokovic, who was penalised a point in the second set for smashing his racket.

Djokovic is the defending champion in Melbourne, having won his sixth Australian Open title last year when he condemned Murray to a fifth defeat in the final of the tournament.