Murray ends drought with Shenzhen title

SHENZHEN, China: Second-seeded Andy Murray of Britain rallied from a set down to defeat fourth-seeded Tommy Robredo of Spain 5-7, 7-6 (9), 6-1 Sunday to win the Shenzhen Open.
Murray saved five match points as he ended a 15-month title drought while improving his chances of qualifying for the ATP Finals in London in November.
“I got lucky, basically, at the end of the second set,” Murray said. “I fought hard, tried my best and thankfully managed to turn it round.” The 27-year-old Scot accepted a wild card into Shenzhen in a bid to improve his ranking from 11th into the top eight, so as to qualify for London. Murray now moves up to 10th in the rankings, just 105 points behind the eighth-placed Tomas Berdych.
Murray trailed 2-6 in the second set tiebreaker against Robredo, but the Spaniard squandered five match points.
“I tried to get as many balls back in play as I could,” Murray said of those match points. “I missed three or four balls in the tiebreak by very little. I was frustrated to be in that position, but thankfully managed to turn it around. In those situations you need some luck.” It was Murray’s first title since his triumph at Wimbledon in July 2013 and his 29th tour-level victory.
The 32-year-old Robredo was contesting his 21st tour final and, like Murray, was bidding for his first title since July 2013, when he won the Umag crown.
“It’s tough to accept it,” Robredo said. “But Andy did a great job. He was pushing right till the end and in the end, he deserved it.”

Nishikori triumphs

In Kuala Lumpur, Japan’s new tennis star Kei Nishikori clinched the Malaysian Open on Sunday after taming France’s Julien Benneteau in two tightly fought sets.
The top seed, the first Asian man to reach a Grand Slam singles final at the US Open this month, beat the fourth seeded Benneteau 7-6 (7/4), 6-4. He is now the first Asian to win the Malaysia tournament.
The showdown at a packed Putra Stadium in Kuala Lumpur got off to a cracking start.
Benneteau took an early hold of the tie to lead 3-1, but Nishikori showed resilience, powering back to draw level before going on to clinch the first set 7-6 (7/4), which included two sublime back-hand volley winners at full stretch.
In the second set, the world eighth ranked player again trailed world No.28 Benneteau 2-3, but smashed some cross-court winners to move to 5-4 up.
The 24-year-old Japanese sealed victory with a power serve, which Benneteau returned to the net.
The pupil of American tennis star-turned-coach Michael Chang said he did not have it easy against Benneteau, who finished as runner-up for the third consecutive year.
Benneteau has also now reached 10 tour finals without winning one.
“It was really tough. (Benneteau) was aggressive, but I was waiting for my opportunity, and when he got tired in the last game I took my chances and a.m. happy it paid off,” Nishikori said.
“It wasn’t my best tennis, but I’m really happy to come away with the win in this tough game.” Nishikori said he was looking ahead to playing in Japan, after the strong support in Malaysia.
“It’s really an honor to have won this tournament. It’s not even in my country and so many people showed up,” he said.
“I want to do well in my next tournament in Japan after this.” He next plays in the Japan Open, which starts in Tokyo on Monday.
In the doubles, fourth seed Marcin Matkowski of Poland and Leander Paes of India beat second seed Britain’s Jamie Murray and Australia’s John Peers 3-6, 7-6 (7/5), 10-5.