Murray digs deep to win Rogers Cup

When the money is on the line, the money is on Novak Djokovic.

But Andy Murray beat the odds Sunday to win his third Rogers Cup Canadian Open men’s singles title.

Djokovic came into Sunday’s final with a 13- 1 record this season when a match went to a deciding set. And he had a 7- 1 career edge when matches against Murray went to a deciding set.

But it was Murray who dug the deepest, fighting off nine break points in the third set to defeat Djokovic 6- 4, 4- 6, 6- 3 for his third Rogers Cup title. He also won in 2009 and 2010.

Murray, who will move past Roger Federer into the No. 2 spot in the ATP rankings Monday, was happy to end an eight- match losing streak against Djokovic.

“This year I’ve lost some tough ones to him,” said Murray. “Last year for me, you know, I wasn’t able to compete with the top players. I was coming back from back surgery. I wasn’t able to. This year I feel like I’ve been able to.

“To win this one was nice, especially the way the match was as well,” added Murray. “It would have been easy for me to let that one slip away. But I fought well and stayed calm.”

The top- seeded Djokovic was gracious in defeat.

“Andy is deservedly a winner today on the court,” he said after the players battled for three hours in temperatures that reached 50C on the court. “I thought what made the difference was his serve and my serve. I didn’t serve well the first set and a half. After, I just wasn’t able to serve. But not taking anything away from him, from his victory. He deserved it.”

The decisive moment in the match came with Murray serving at 3- 1 in the third set.

“I had I think four, five opportunities to break back, he just came up always with big serves, so I couldn’t do much,” said Djokovic.

Actually, there were six break opportunities in that game, which lasted 19 minutes. Two of them were set up when Murray doublefaulted, but he proved stronger in the rallies. Djokovic had two more break chances with Murray serving for the match, but the tournament’s No. 2 seed delivered an ace to get to match point and then watched a Djokovic forehand sail over the baseline.

The victory was worth $ 685,200 U. S. and also put Murray in the lead for the Emirates U. S. Open Series, which carries a potential bonus of $ 1 million. Djokovic collected $ 336,000 to boost his official earnings on the ATP Tour this season to more than $ 10 million.