Murray masters Madrid

The 21-year-old Scot struck 10 aces to just one from Simon, who failed to produce one break point on Murray’s serve in a match lasting 93 minutes. The first set saw lengthy baseline rallies, often lasting 20 shots or more but Murray, who in July won the previous Masters Series tournament in Cincinnati, seemed happy to wait for Simon to make the mistake. Murray seized his opportunity in the sixth game as Simon hit a passing shot wide and closed out the set four games later.

The second set was closer as the 23-year-old Frenchman pressed for an opening, but rarely threatened Murray’s towering serve as the set headed towards a tiebreak. Murray used his drop shot one too many times in the deciding game and Simon successfully scampered after it to bring up two set points but Murray held on and at 6-6 clubbed a savage cross-court return to bring up championship point. He converted the point when Simon dumped his volley into the net.

Despite the defeat, Simon moves to within a place of the eight-man Masters Cup tournament in Shanghai next month.

Bhupathi-Knowles lose

Fourth seeds Mahesh Bhupathi and Mark Knowles lost the doubles final to the seventh-seeded Polish duo of Mariusz Frystenberg and Marcin Matkowski 6-2, 6-4.