Andy Murray claims 45th career title with Dubai triumph

Andy Murray clinched his first title of 2017 and 45th of his career as he dominated Spain’s Fernando Verdasco 6-3, 6-2 to win the Dubai Tennis Championships on Saturday.

World number one Murray claimed the trophy in the emirate for the first time after losing the final five years ago to Roger Federer.

The Scot finished the job in just 73 minutes on the first of three match points, an untouchable service winner.

“It’s obviously nice to finally win here,” said the top seed. “It feels great to take the trophy for the first time.

“I played a good match today. I had a bit of a slow start, but we’ve had a lot of late nights this week. But once I got going, I was moving well and finished strong.”