Great Britain's Andy Murray defeated David Ferrer in three sets to claim the Sony Open title in Miami this evening.
In what was a dramatic encounter in the USA, Murray eventually won through 2-6 6-4 6-7 in just under three hours.
It appeared that world number five Ferrer was heading for the title when he raced into a 5-0 lead during the opening set. Murray regained his composure to get two games on the board, but it wasn't enough to prevent Ferrer from opening up a one-set advantage.
The second set belonged to Murray, though, and he forced a deciding set courtesy of a 6-4 success.
It proved to be an uncertain final set, with a total of eight breaks of serve shared evenly between the two players.
Murray had a chance to serve for the title while leading at 5-4, but Ferrer managed to keep his chances alive. The Spaniard then had a match point on the Murray serve at 6-5, but the Scot survived that scare.
The encounter eventually descended into a deciding tie-break, in which Murray eased to a 7-1 victory. The win means that he has moved above Roger Federer and into number two in the world rankings.
Liam Apicella
