Medvedev claims 17th title after beating Murray in Doha final

Russia’s Daniil Medvedev maintained his winning roll after clinching the title at the Qatar Open on debut following a 6-4, 6-4 victory over Andy Murray 6-4, 6-4 in a final matchup of former No. 1s on Saturday.

Very happy with another title. Tough final today against one of the best competitors in our sport @andy_murray. Nice to play in such great atmosphere tonight! 🙏🙏 pic.twitter.com/AN0nyB3wW9

— Daniil Medvedev (@DaniilMedwed) February 25, 2023

Third seed Medvedev built a 4-1 lead in the first set and a 3-1 lead in the second before finishing off the two-time Doha champ in one hour and 47 minutes.

The Russian improved to 3-0 in his career against the 35-year-old Murray, who had played four straight three-set matches to reach the final.

“I’d like to say how much I appreciated it today playing Andy,” said Medvedev in his on-court interview after winning his 17th singles title.

“Yesterday I was in the gym working out and started to the do the last exercises when it was 5-4 40-0, 25 minutes later he was still on the tie-break and won it, crazy.

“Today when I had a match point I was like ‘oh my god I have a match point against Andy in Doha, that’s not a good sign’, but I had to have a match point to win. I knew it wasn’t over until the last point with him.”

Medvedev also won in Rotterdam last weekend and extended his winning streak to nine matches.