By JOHN PYE
By JOHN PYE
Associated Press
BRISBANE, Australia — His voice cracking, an emotional Andy Murray used his victory speech to offer encouragement to an absent friend.
Murray kicked off 2013 with a successful defense of his Brisbane International title, holding off Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov 7-6 (0), 6-4 on Sunday.
“I’d like to dedicate this victory to one of my best friends,” Murray said. “Thank you very much. He’s back home watching and, you’re going to get through.”
He signed what appeared to say “For You Perched” on a small plaque after the match, but wouldn’t disclose the identity of his friend.
Murray began his breakthrough season in 2012 by winning in Brisbane and tacked on career-changing titles at the London Olympics and U.S. Open.
The Australian Open starts Jan. 14, and Murray heads to the first major of the season without the enormous pressure he had a year ago. The 76-year drought for British men at the majors is over, so he doesn’t have to answer those questions now.
The 25-year-old Scot started slowly against Dimitrov and had to recover breaks in both sets. He was happy with the payoff from his concerted efforts to work on playing aggressively.
“I got off to not the best start and he was playing very aggressive, and by the end of the first set I had turned the tables,” he said.
“It’s a change of mentality really, and that doesn’t happen in a few weeks. It’s taken time to believe that that’s the right thing to do, to be aggressive.”
The 21-year-old Dimitrov raced to a 4-1 lead in his first ATP World Tour final, stunning Murray with some impressive backhands, but lost his nerve and was broken when serving for the set at 5-3. After getting back on serve, No. 3-ranked Murray saved a set point with an ace and forced a tiebreaker, which he dominated.
In the second, Murray drilled a backhand into the net to give up a service break and a 4-3 lead to Dimitrov, and chastised himself as he sat in his chair at the changeover, yelling: “legs, legs, legs, legs, legs.”
He raised his game immediately to break back in a three-game roll, getting quick points from a backhand passing shot and a stunning return to set up a break point and a tying backhand winner down the line.
Murray held at love for a 5-4 lead in a service game that lasted 56 seconds and then broke Dimitrov again to finish it off in 1½ hours.
“I was up a break and I was actually not playing bad tennis at all I thought,” the No. 48-ranked Dimitrov said. “He’s one of the best returners in the game by far. He picked up couple of my serves on big points, so that gave him extra confidence. Then he stepped up with his serve.
“He’s a top guy, so he has his rhythm, his routine on court. When he has to play good, he plays good. So I didn’t feel that I was far from winning the set or even the match, but still that was a little margin that he got covered.”
Dimitrov beat No. 2-seeded Milos Raonic, the big-serving Canadian, No. 7 Jurgen Melzer and 2006 Australian Open finalist Marcos Baghdatis en route to the final.
And Murray thinks Dimitrov, who has been compared to 17-time Grand Slam winner Roger Federer as a younger player, could be on the verge of bigger things.
“It’s his first final. Everyone will agree he played some extremely exciting tennis, it was a very tough match,” Murray said. “He’s just changed coaches, started with a new team, so congratulations to them — I’m sure they’re going to do great things together.”
Murray made it to the finals at the Australian Open in 2010 and 2011, then lost in the semifinals last year to eventual champion Novak Djokovic.
In all, he lost four finals at Grand Slam events before his breakthrough at the U.S. Open. Now that he has crossed the hurdle, he’s in a much stronger position to add more majors.
“I hope that the Australian Open goes a bit better for me than it did last year,” he said. “I played some very good tennis there. I lost a set in the first round, and then won the next four matches in straight sets, until the match with Novak which I played very well. So I hope I can start the year well.”