BEIJING, October 9, 2016
Andy Murray captured his first title in Beijing, winning Sunday’s final of the $4,164,780 China Open against Grigor Dimitrov 6-4, 7-6.
The top seed from Great Britain won 73 per cent of his first service points and capitalized on two of his seven break point chances to seal victory in one hour and 57 minutes.
Watch highlights from the @ChinaOpen final, where @andy_murray claimed his 40th tour-level title. Watch: https://t.co/NGWeWddJdZ pic.twitter.com/Faf2xGJm9W
— ATP World Tour (@ATPWorldTour) 9. Oktober 2016
Andy Murray did not drop a set all week in Beijing, becoming the 16th member of the ’40 Titles Club’ in the Open Era. The 29 year old lifted his fifth trophy in a season for the first time since 2011, adding to titles won at Wimbledon, the ATP World Tour Masters 1000 event in Rome, the Aegon Championships on the grass of The Queen’s Club and the Rio Olympics.
“It was probably my best match of the week. But my second serve tonight was probably the best part of my game. A lot of the unreturned serves came off second serves. Considering the conditions were fairly cold, I was still serving over a hundred miles an hour on some second serves. I felt using good variation on that shot, so I didn’t give him a chance to really attack me there and that was probably the thing that I did best tonight,” told Murray, taking home $663,575 as well as 500 ATP ranking points. With the additional 500 points in his growing haul in the Emirates ATP Race To London, Murray drew to within 1,555 of World No. 1 Novak Djokovic for the year-end top spot.
Grigor Dimitrov was bidding for his first ATP World Tour crown since 2014, when he won at The Queen’s Club in London.
“I think the past couple of times, Andy has been playing really well against me. I didn’t start my match the best way possible. I got broken right away in the first game. There are very different conditions today, pretty chilly. I think I just didn’t have enough time to adjust,” the Bulgarian said.
Nadal And Carreno-Busta Prevail In Doubles
Rafael Nadal and Pablo Carreno Busta celebrated their first ATP World Tour doubles title together in Beijing. The Spanish tandem defeated Jack Sock and Bernard Tomic 6-7, 6-2, 10-8 in one hour and 29 minutes.
“We enjoy playing together. We played some good matches here, I think, winning against some good players. Winning with a good friend, too, is something that is a bit more special. So we’re happy for that,” told Nadal, who improved to 11-4 in tour-level doubles finals, while Carreno Busta captured his second doubles title in six finals this season.
Radwanska Triumphs Again
In the women’s final third seed Agnieszka Radwanska defeated Johanna Konta of Great Britain, winning 6-4, 6-2 in one hour and 35 minutes.
“It’s a very special moment; third final and second title here. It was a really special week for me and it couldn’t be any better,” told Radwanska, who also took the title in Beijing in 2011.
“Every title means a lot, but especially here when you play against the best players in the world, in one of the biggest tournaments. It’s top players from the first round and I’ve been playing my best tennis all week so of course I’m very happy to win this tournament again, and this trophy is going to stay in a very special place.”
