Murray wins at Cincy

Murray fights off Djokovic for Cincy title

Mason, OH (Sports Network) - Eighth-seeded Scotsman Andy Murray scored an upset of third-seeded Serbian Novak Djokovic in a heated battle at the $2.615 million Western & Southern Financial Group Masters tennis event on Sunday.

Murray won in straight sets 7-6 (7-4), 7-6 (7-5), but the feisty Djokovic forced a tie-breaker in each before Murray ultimately pulled out his third ATP title of the year. It was the sixth title of his career in just his 10th career ATP final. The Scotland native notched victories at Doha and Marseille earlier this year.

Murray pocketed $420,000 for the hard-fought victory.

"I mean, it's huge to win your first sort of major tournament, and to do it in a match like today makes it more special," said Murray. "I've been in the semifinals four times before this week, and lost every time against tough players. This week I played well the whole week, and even though he had the chance to when he get back into the match, I was really happy with the way that I fought and stayed in there. I put in a lot of work off the court to be able to win these sort of tournaments, and it makes it all worthwhile."
Djokovic owned a 4-1 advantage in head-to-head matchups coming into the match including a win this year at Monaco. Murray, however, was victorious in their last meeting, a quarterfinal matchup at the Rogers Cup just two weeks ago.
Murray advanced to the final with a 6-4, 6-4 triumph over 16th-seeded Ivo Karlovic in a match that lasted one hour and 21 minutes.
Djokovic ousted second-seeded Rafael Nadal in the semifinals with a shocking 6-1, 7-5 upset of the soon to be No. 1 ranked player on tour. The Serb failed in his bid for a fourth title this season in his 15th career ATP final.
Despite Djokovic's snapping of Nadal's 32-match winning streak, the Wimbledon and French Open champion will dethrone Roger Federer as the No. 1 ranked player on August 18th. Federer has held the top ranking a record 235 consecutive weeks (since February 2, 2004), while Nadal has been No. 2 for a record 158 straight weeks (since July 25, 2005). The last player to rank No. 1 before Federer was Andy Roddick.
Nadal will become just the third Spaniard to take hold of the No. 1 position, joining Carlos Moya (1999) and Juan Carlos Ferrero (2003).
08/03 20:24:40 ET
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