Andy Murray lost his Madrid Open crown and relinquished his spot as world number two on Sunday as Novak Djokovic won his fifth tour title of the year.
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However, the Scot fought back in the second set, breaking Djokovic to move 3-1 ahead in the second set and with both players holding their remaining serves that was enough to see him take the second set to level the match.
Murray, who won the title in the Spanish capital past year, took Murray all the way to a deciding set, but eventually lost 6-2 3-6 6-3.
Murray, however, will be well aware that this was still his 12th defeat in his last 13 meetings with Djokovic dating back to his victory in the Wimbledon final of 2013.
That may be so but it was a desperately close affair, right the way through to a titanic and seemingly interminable final game in which Djokovic was forced to save seven break points. But while Murray’s aggressive positioning on the return reaped dividends at times, Djokovic is nothing if not a fighter and eventually, tenaciously, he served out for the title.
He has now won 33 of the past 35 sets against top 10 opponents – a stretch of 15 matches.
Djokovic: “This came at the right time.I had an fantastic opening four months of the season”.
Murray hit back in the second but had no answer in the third as Djokovic repeated his 2011 Madrid Open triumph. In his career he has won 29 Masters Series titles, more than any other player in history.
In the vital deciding set, Djokovic started the same as the first and broke Murray at the start.
It means Murray now drops down to world No 3, with Roger Federer overtaking him according to the new ATP rankings.
But Murray said it was his fault that his long-time rival had exceeded the time limit. Betraying no hint of the uncharacteristic nerves that, by his own admission, had hampered him towards the end of his semi-final win over Kei Nishikori, the Serb began like a rocket, leading Murray a merry dance with his variety and precision from the back of the court. It was only the second time in the whole tournament that Djokovic had dropped his serve.
When Djokovic went 0-40 down when serving at 3-5 it seemed that Murray might be on the verge of a remarkable comeback but the Serb brought the score back to deuce.
“Novak has had a lot of wins against me in the last couple of years unfortunately but he has done some great things and also deserved this win”, the Scot added. “I would have loved to have defended the title today but it wasn’t to be”.
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And Djoker would continue his mastery over the Scott in the opening set – breaking his opponent three times, including in this service game, with a ridiculous angled forehand victor. “He was at the line about five seconds before me”. Djoker then tries a drop volley, which is returned, but the world number one then steers it into the open court for a victor. It was all decided by just a few points at the end.
