Tennis: Murray flattens Dolgopolov in Brisbane final

World number four warms up for Australian Open in emphatic manner.

BRISBANE: World number four 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.

Murray, runner-up at Melbourne Park for the past two years as he chases his first Grand Slam, showed no mercy against the number 15 from Ukraine as he cruised to the title 6-1, 6-3 in the Pat Rafter Arena.

With former great Ivan Lendl watching on for just the second time since being appointed Murray’s surprise new coach, the Scotsman’s emphatic performance got their high-profile partnership off to the perfect start.

The top-seed 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 focused,” said Murray, with the first Grand Slam of the year barely a week away.

“He started going for his shots and hit quite a few winners but I didn’t 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 at 4-2 and was creating a lot of opportunities,” he said.

Murray had started the week slowly and struggled to win his 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 Australia’s rising star Bernard Tomic in the semi-finals before his impressive display against  the world number 15 from Ukraine.

He now heads to Melbourne, where his only outing before the Australian Open will be an exhibition match at the Kooyong Classic.

Tsonga clinches Qatar Open title

Elsewhere, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, who reached the Australian Open final four years ago, gave himself a great build-up by capturing the eighth title of his career at the Qatar Open in Doha.

The world number six from France beat his 16th-ranked compatriot Gael Monfils 7-5, 6-3 in an ultimately convincing victory.

“I tried to play as aggressive a game as I could and was very competitive because against top players like Monfils, that is what you have to do in order to succeed and win tournaments,” said the  delighted Frenchman.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 9^th, 2012.