No. 4 Murray wins Madrid title; claims second career Masters Series title

Scotland native Andy Murray (pictured) ended marathon man Gilles Simon’s magical tournament by defeating the Frenchman, 6-4, 7-6(6), to win the Mutua Madrilena Masters Madrid on Sunday. The fourth-seeded Scot earned his second consecutive ATP Masters Series shield after winning the Masters Series Cincinnati in early August.

Simon got off to a slow start this afternoon by getting broken in the fifth game of the opening set when Murray got the Frenchman out of position with a spectacular lob followed by a solid backhand up the line that forced a Simon error. In the second set, Simon was steady throughout and even held a 6-4 lead in the tiebreak, but failed to seal the deal in that set despite the set points. Murray ripped a cross-court backhand winner to get up a 7-6 lead and earn a championship point. On the very first championship point he held, both players were involved in a very exciting side-to-side rally that once brought Murray to net and then saw Simon miss a tricky volley to end the match. Murray yelled in excitement after capturing the title and would throw his wristbands and racquet into the crowd after a nice chat and handshake at the net with Simon.

Murray was remarkable on serve today, winning 84 percent of his first serve points, while smashing 11 aces compared to only one ace by Simon. Simon, who won titles earlier this year in Bucharest, Casablanca and Indianapolis, did not have any break point chances throughout the 95-minute match. The 23-year-old Nice native falls to 45-23 on the year, but moves up from No. 12 to No. 9 in the ATP 2008 Race standings for the year-end Tennis Masters Cup in Shanghai.

The 21-year old Scot who already assured himself a spot in the year-end Tennis Masters Cup, improves to 48-14 on the season. After winning the title today, as well as titles earlier this year in Doha, Marseille and Cincinnati, Murray now owns seven career ATP singles titles. Murray becomes the first British player to win four titles in an ATP season and also becomes the first player British player to win two ATP Masters Series titles. British stars Tim Henman and Greg Rusedski each won one Masters Series title during their outstanding careers.

Murray now heads to St. Petersburg, Russia, where he is the No. 1 seed at the St. Petersburg Open. If he sticks with his commitment to play in the event, Murray will meet rising Serbian Viktor Troicki in the opening round and could take home $171,000 if he were to win the tournament.

In Lyon, France at the Grand Prix de Tennis de Lyon, Simon is expected to play pending a possible withdrawal due to wanting some rest before the Masters Series Paris takes place in one week. If he decides to stay in the draw, the Frenchman will be seeded No. 4 and will face Argentine Juan Monaco in the first round. He could possibly meet Ivo Karlovic in the quarterfinals and top-seed Andy Roddick in the semifinals.