MURRAY ON THE MARCH
Andy storms to first Dubai title
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 6-3, 6-2 victory over Fernando Verdasco to win the Dubai Duty Free Championships.
Murray’s ultimate 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 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 se ttles 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 today I was moving well and I finished strongly.
‘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,’ he said when being presented with the silver trophy, in the shape of a Dhow. The rankings work on a 12-month roll on-roll off basis and, as Murray won few matches this time last year — he took a break for the birth of his daughter and then floundered in America — he is only likely to improve his tally at the forthcoming Masters level events at Indian Wells and Miami. His world No1 ranking is only likely to start coming under pressure when the clay- court season begins in April, but even then he ought to hold onto it until at least just prior to the French Open, depending on what challengers such as Novak Djokovic come up with.
Murray served three double faults early on to be broken in his first two service games against Verdasco, but it was not long before he was tucking into the stuttering serve of the lefthanded world No 35.
The 29-year-old Scot broke back for 3-3 and did not look back from there, going ahead when he broke again for 2-1 in the second set and effectively wrapping it up by doing so again for 5-2.
There was the possibility of a Murray double this weekend with brother Jamie and partner Bruno Soares in last night’s doubles final of the concurrent ATP event in Acapulco.
Rafa Nadal was looking to maintain his recent revival as he took on American Sam Querrey overnight in the singles event.
The Spaniard clinically dispatched Croatian Marin Cilic 6-1, 6-2 in the first semi-final, while Querrey battled to a 3-6, 6-1, 7-5 victory over Nick Kyrgios — conqueror of Djokovic in the previous round — in the second.
Nadal will be seeking his third title in the hard-court event. He previously won the tournament in 2005 and 2013. His last championship on the surface came in Doha in January 2014. But he seems to be on top of his game this week, having not lost a set.