Murray runs out of miracles and bows to Russian in final

ANDY MURRAY finally ran out of match-point miracles as he was prevented from winning the Qatar Open by ex-US Open champion Daniil Medvedev.

Having added to his previous tournament tally of eight match points saved, the 35-year-old Scot rescued another before going down 6-4 6-4 in the final against the rangy Russian after a remarkable week.

For his troubles he will at least have boosted his ranking to the cusp of the top 50, although there is still some work to do before he achieves his goal of making the 32 seeded positions at the Grand Slams.

Not that there is time to rest, as Murray will move straight on to the Dubai Championships, where he has a tough first round against Poland’s Hubert Hurkacz.

‘It was an incredible week but obviously it didn’t finish the way I wanted,’ he said. ‘I had some amazing matches and it was great to be back in a final. There are some things to work on but I’m proud of the work my team and I have put in to get back to this stage.’

As Medvedev said afterwards, it is never over until it’s over against Murray this year, but he finally put him away with a lob when his opponent found himself marooned at the net.

Murray — seeking his first title since 2019 — had slow starts in both sets, with his forehand not quite working the way he would have hoped. He pulled back one break of serve in the opener, and then levelled for 3-3 in the second to raise hopes of another rally.

Yet Medvedev has finally rediscovered his form of 2021 after a relatively barren 12 months and, keeping the ball consistently deep, broke again for 5-4 and managed to serve it out.

British No1 Cam Norrie was last night due to face Spain’s Bernabe Zapata Miralles in the semi-final of the concurrent Rio de Janeiro Open.