Story highlights
Roger Federer claims his fifth title in Dubai with a straight sets win over Andy Murray
Swiss champion wins 7-5 6-4 to claim the 72nd title of career
Roger Federer brushed aside the challenge of Andy Murray on Saturday to claim his fifth Dubai Open title.
The Swiss champion and world No.3 won in straight sets 7-5 6-4 in one hour 30 minutes to notch up the 72nd title of his career.
“It’s beautiful winning this. It’s such a difficult tournament with so many top ten players, and Andy having such a huge victory getting to the final,” Federer said.
Murray couldn’t repeat the form which saw him down Djokovic in straight sets on Friday, instead playing second fiddle to 30-year-old Federer.
The Scot had a chance to break in the sixth game but squandered two opportunities to edge ahead.
Four games later, Federer made Murray pay, breaking his serve to go ahead 6-5 before serving out the set.
The 16-time grand slam champion started the second set in similar fashion breaking Murray in the third game, before the world No.4 fought back to level at 3-3 – breaking Federer’s run of 66 unbroken service games in the process.
Two games later though Federer was back in charge, breaking the Scot’s serve before closing out the match.
“It is wonderful to win five. It’s only happened at a handful of tournaments maybe in my career, Federer said.
Murray was happy to have achieved a couple of notable victories (Tomas Berdych and Djokovic) during the week, but conceded it was always going to be a challenge facing Federer in the final.
“I was happy to reach the final, though I would like to have gone one better. I think most of the crowd wanted him to win, but it was a great atmosphere,” Murray said.