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Summary Andy Murray defeated Alexandr Dolgopolov 6-1, 6-3 to win Brisbane International title.
World No.4 Andy Murray laid down a marker for the Australian Open with a 65-minute demolition of Alexandr Dolgopolov in the final of the Brisbane International on Sunday.Murray, runner-up at Melbourne Park for the past two years, showed no mercy against the world No.15 from Ukraine as he cruised to the title 6-1, 6-3 in the Pat Rafter Arena.The Scotsman was lethal in all departments as he dominated Dolgopolov, a player who pushed him to four close sets in the Australian Open quarter-finals last year but who took a slight groin injury into the final.I served pretty well again, it got close in the second set but I stayed focussed, Murray said.He started going for his shots and hit quite a few winners but I didnt let it get to me.Murray broke Dolgopolov twice in the first set and did not lose a point on his first three service games to claim the opener in just 26 minutes.He went on a run of nine consecutive games from 2-1 in the first to 4-0 in the second before the Ukrainian finally stemmed the flow by holding serve for only the second time in the match.That signalled a slight rally from Dolgopolov, who then got a service game back and fought to make it 4-3.But Murray held his next serve then broke Dolgopolov to love to clinch the Roy Emerson Trophy and his 22nd title on the ATP tour.Even though it got back to 4-3, I had game points at 4-1 and game points at 4-2 and was creating a lot of opportunities, he said.Murray had started the week slowly and struggled to win his first two matches, against Mikhail Kukushkin and Gilles Muller.But he hit top gear from then on, easily accounting for Marcos Baghdatis in the quarter-finals and Bernard Tomic in the semis before his impressive display against Dolgopolov.I played much better the last three matches for sure, Murray said. I could easily have lost the second round against Muller but I managed to fight my way through and play three very good matches.Dolgopolov, who has been troubled by a slight groin injury he picked up in his semi-final against Gilles Simon, acknowledged he had been outplayed and apologised to the crowd for playing boring tennis.
