Brisbane, Jan 8: World No.4 Andy Murray laid down a marker for the Australian Open with a 65-minute demolition of Alexandr Dolgopolov in the final of the Brisbane International on Sunday.
 Murray, runner-up at Melbourne Park for the past two years, showed no mercy against the world No.15 from Ukraine as he cruised to the title 6-1, 6-3 in the Pat Rafter Arena.
 The Scotsman was lethal in all departments as he dominated Dolgopolov, a player who had pushed him to four close games in the Australian Open quarterfinals last year.
 He broke Dolgopolov twice in the first set and did not lose a point on his first three service games to claim the opener in just 26 minutes.
 Murray went on a run of nine consecutive games from 2-1 in the first to 4-0 in the second before the Ukrainian finally stemmed the flow by holding serve for only the second time in the match.
 That signalled a slight comeback from Dolgopolov, who then surprisingly got a service game back before holding after a struggle to make it 4-3.
 But Murray held his next serve then broke Dolgopolov to love to clinch his 22nd title on the ATP tour.
 Murray had started the week slowly and struggled to win his first two matches, against Mikhail Kushkin and Gilles Muller.
 But he hit top gear from then on, easily accounting for Marcos Baghdatis in the quarterfinals and Bernard Tomic in the semis before his impressive display against Dolgopolov. AFP

Lastupdate on : Sun, 8 Jan 2012 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Sun, 8 Jan 2012 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Mon, 9 Jan 2012 00:00:00 IST