Andy Murray retains Brisbane Title
6th January 2013Britain's Andy Murray retained his Brisbane International title with a straight sets win over Grigor Dimitrov.
Murray, the US Open champion and top seed, triumphed 7-6 (7-0) 6-4 in just over an hour and a half against the Bulgarian world number 48.
"I'd like to dedicate this victory to one of my best friends," said Murray, holding back tears at the trophy presentation.
"He's back home watching - you're going to get through it."
The 25-year-old Scot lost 11 of the first 12 points, trailed 3-0 and needed to save set point before taking the first set on a one-sided tie-break.
He also had to break back in the second set against his highly-rated 21-year-old opponent, who was playing in his first tour final.
Dimitrov led 4-3 but Murray raised his game to break back straight away thanks to a backhand passing shot and a superb return to set up a break point and a backhand winner down the line.
Murray then held to love for a 5-4 lead in a service game that lasted 56 seconds and then broke Dimitrov again to finish it off in 90 minutes.
The Scot paid tribute to Dimitrov, who was bidding to become the first Bulgarian to win an ATP title in the open era and who had beaten second seed Milos Raonic, seventh seed Jurgen Melzer and 2006 Australian Open finalist Marcos Baghdatis en route to the decider.
"It's his first final. Everyone will agree he played some extremely exciting tennis, it was a very tough match," he said. "He's just changed coaches, started with a new team, so congratulations to them - I'm sure they're going to do great things together."
Murray's 25th career title comes ahead of the Australian Open in Melbourne, which starts on 14 January.