Andy Murray has set his sights on usurping Roger Federer as the world number three after moderation to his 19th career ATP title in the final of the Thailand Open. The British number one and current world number four was simply too good for first-time finalist Donald Young, stroll to a 6-2 6-0 victory in Bangkok.
Murray's first ATP Tour final was in this contest six years ago, when he was beaten in straight sets by Federer, and after picking up his latest trophy has the Swiss very much in his sights.
The hard-court season swing through Asia is followed by events back in Europe, and Murray - always very much at home on the hard courts - is target a string of victories in a bid to move up the order behind world number one Novak Djokovic and number two Rafael Nadal.
That's the goal and I'll keep operational hard to give myself a shot at doing that.Murray certainly looked in the mood to end the year on a high note, ruthlessly dispatch his 22-year-old adversary in just 47 minutes.
The Scot won the first four games before Young finally held to get on the board. Murray served out the set though and the American, ranked 55th in the world, could make no crash in the second.
I just played really well,Murray added.Towards the end of the first set he started to play a bit better, but once I got up in the second I barely made any mistakes.”I felt like I was moving well, so it was tricky for him to hit any clean winners. I served very well throughout and didn't give him any opportunity. It was a great match.
Murray hopes his winning start on the Asian move backward and forward of the ATP Tour will stand him in good stead heading into the Shanghai Masters in a little over a week.In terms of the way I'm playing it's very good to get off to a start like that on this stretch and hopefully I can carry on that through Shanghai, Murray said.It's a very good start.