Brisbane, Australia – Andy Murray successfully defended his Brisbane International tournament title by rallying to top Bulgaria's Grigor Dimitrov, 7-6 (7-0), 6-4 in Sunday's championship match.
Murray was behind 5-2 in the first set, but then came storming back. The Scotsman was down 4-3 in the second set, but won the final three games to secure his 25th title.
"I thought the standard of tennis was good today," Murray said. "There were a lot of high quality rallies and I had to change a few things. He started the match off very well and was extremely aggressive. I managed to start dictating a lot of points and used my forehand well."
The reigning U.S. Open champion, Murray, stopped Dimitrov from making history. The 21-year-old Dimitrov, who was in his first career final, was trying to become the first Bulgarian to win an ATP title in the open era (since 1968).
"I didn't feel nervous at all ... I figured I'd just go out and try to win the match," Dimitrov said following this Australian Open tune-up.
Murray, who claimed the first-place prize of $78,800, became the first back- to-back tournament winner here since Mark Woodforde in 1988-89 when the event was played in Adelaide.
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