Murray does his Duty to claim the title in Dubai
ANDY MURRAY will swap one desert for another in the next 48 hours, buoyed by his first ATP title of the season after the disappointment of the Australian Open.
The world No1 will take the 16-hour flight to Los Angeles, having extended his lead at the top of the rankings with a fairly comfortable 6-3, 6-2 victory over Spaniard Fernando Verdasco to win the Dubai Duty Free Championships.
Murray’s destination is Indian Wells, next door to Palm Springs, and he will be heartened by the general good working order of his game.
The key to this title was coming through the 31-minute tiebreak against Phillip Kohlschreiber in which he saved seven match points to survive into the semi-final.
Victory against Verdasco took just 74 minutes, and it meant another first for Murray as the only Briton to have won the Dubai event in its 25-year history.
‘It’s always nice to win any tournament, especially one you haven’t won before,’ said Murray, who agreed the extraordinary battle with Kohlschreiber was the turning point.
‘When you get through matches like that it settles you down for the whole tournament. There have been quite a few late finishes for me but it’s been a tricky week for a lot of the players, with the rain and things.
‘Once I got going I was moving well and I finished strongly. Maybe the last couple of matches I didn’t start as well as I would have liked. But it has been the same for all of the players.
‘I’ve got a 16-hour flight although it’s nice that it’s direct. I’ve struggled a bit in Indian Wells in recent years so this has given me good momentum going into the coming stretch and hopefully I can play well there.’
It was also Murray’s first title as world No1. ‘Winning is special regardless of your ranking, but maybe there’s a bit more pressure and expectation now,’ added the Scot.