Federer claims Dubai title

Andy Murray could not repeat his semi-final heroics as Roger Federer won the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships with a straight-sets victory.

The day after inflicting a first defeat of the season on world number one Novak Djokovic, Murray went down 7-5 6-4 in just over an hour and a half.

The Scot did break the 16-time grand slam champion for the first time in the tournament, but Federer always looked to have the edge.

Murray's serve, which had been so impressive against Djokovic, deserted him in the final, as his first-serve percentage dropped below 50% and he won just 56% of points on his second serve.

The three-time major finalist had beaten Federer in the last two finals they had been in, Shanghai and Toronto in 2010, but his opponent was too good this time.

After the first 10 games all went with serve, the Swiss star upped his game to earn three break points.

Murray dug deep to save all three and then a fourth, but he could not shake off Federer, who made the decisive break at the fifth time of asking before closing out the set.

Murray held at the start of the second set, but Federer was now in the groove. The world number three held to love, broke his opponent's serve and then held to love again to go 3-1 in front to close in on yet another title.

The Scot was not going to go down without a fight, though, and closed the gap to 3-2. He then carved out a break point with a lob and volley at the net, and took it as Federer netted following another Murray lob.

It was the first time Federer had dropped serve all week, but he was still playing the better tennis and another break in the ninth game as Murray put a two-handed backhand into the net left him serving for the title. Federer eventually clinched his fifth Dubai crown with a booming forehand.