Story highlights
Andy Murray wins Brisbane International title
Scot Murray beats Alexandr Dolgopolov 6-1 6-3 in final
New coach Ivan Lendl was at court side for final
Milos Raonic wins Chennai Open crown in India
Andy Murray won his first tournament since appointing Ivan Lendl as his new coach with a straight sets demolition of third seed Alexandr Dolgopolov of Ukraine in Brisbane Sunday.
Murray, watched by his new mentor, cruised to a 6-1 6-3 victory to open the ATP Tour season with his 22nd title.
It was an impressive display from the World No. 4, who will be hoping Lendl’s influence can guide him to his first grand slam title at the Australian Open later this month.
Top seed Murray was always in command and broke twice in the 26-minute first set, coming from 2-1 down to lead 4-0 in the second with a run of nine straight games.
Dolgopolov, who was troubled with a groin injury, broke back to briefly worry the Scot, but Murray closed out the final in just 67 minutes.
“I served pretty well again,” he told the official ATP Tour website.
“It got close in the second set and I stayed focused. He was just going for his shots and hit quite a few winners but I didn’t let it get to me.
“I felt like I was moving well right at the end of the week.”
He will now play the Kooyong exhibition event to tune up for the Australian Open where he has been losing finalist for the past two years.
In the other ATP Tour final Sunday, big-serving Canadian Milos Raonic won the Chennai Open title with a three sets win over Janko Tipsarevic.
All three went to tiebreaks before 21-year-old Raonic won 6-7 7-6 7-6 in over three hours on court.
On the WTA Tour, China’s Zheng Jie won the ASB Classic in Auckland when her opponent Flavia Panetta of Italy retired injured when trailing 2-0 in the deciding set.
