Federer wins Dubai title

Associated Press

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Roger Federer edged Andy Murray 7-5, 6-4 Saturday to win his fifth Dubai Championships title.

The second-seeded Federer didn’t drop a set all week and kept Murray off balance much of the match. The win was Federer’s fifth title in seven tournaments and his 72nd overall.

“This is perfect. This is great. Any title is a good one, I’ll tell you that,” Federer said. “I have a losing record against Murray.”

The 16-time Grand Slam champion improved to 7-8 against Murray, outplaying the 24-year-old from Scotland with a mix of powerful groundstrokes, drop shots and the occasional serve-and-volley.

Murray, who was coming off a semifinal win against top-ranked Novak Djokovic, struggled with his backhand and serve. He won 85 percent of his first service points against Djokovic, but only 48 percent against Federer.

“For sure I made a few too many mistakes in the second, and he was playing a lot more aggressive than in the first set,” Murray said. “Sets can come down to just a couple points. You get a lucky shot here or one great shot and you can break the set wide open.”

Federer saved two break points when down 3-2 in the first set at the Aviation Club. He saved the first when Murray hit a forehand long and won the second with a backhand volley.

Federer broke Murray to go up 6-5 and took the first set when Murray hit a forehand wide.

The two players traded breaks early in the second set before Federer broke decisively to make it 5-4. Murray saved one match point before the Swiss star hit a forehand winner into the corner.

“The match was close, I think in both sets, I just gave myself more opportunities than Andy did overall,” said Federer, who used the fast surface to his advantage.

Murray insisted his win over Djokovic was not on his mind when he took the court against Federer.

“It was a good win yesterday, good win the day before, tough match today,” Murray said.