Madrid, Spain, October 20, 2008 — Andy Murray bagged his fourth ATP title of the season by winning the Madrid Masters Title Sunday, October 19, 2008. The fourth-ranked Scot defeated French opponent Gilles Simon with a score of 6-4, 7-6, becoming the first Briton to win four titles in a season.
Murray had earlier defeated Roger Federer in Saturday’s semi-finals, while Simon had emerged victorious in his SF match against Rafael Nadal on his way to the final match, preventing a much-anticipated Federer-Nadal match –up in the finals.
The Scot easily scored 10 aces to the Frenchman’s one, owing much to his superior serve and consistent ground strokes. Simon failed to produce a break point on Murray’s serve in the match, and Murray was able to make a break point after Simon hit a wide passing shot, allowing the Scot to take the first set.
“Gilles was hitting much better from behind the baseline, but I got a lot of free points from my serve. That was probably the key to my win today,” Murray said after the match.
The match, which went on for a full 93 minutes, ended with Murray saving two set points in the tiebreaker and Simon netting his 30th unforced error.
The 21-year-old US Open finalist had earlier won three victories in Marseille, Doha, and Cincinnati.
