Tennis: Andy Murray Takes Sap Open Title

Andy Murray, not for the first time this tournament, fought back to retain the SAP Open title in San Jose.

Murray was pitted against the booming serve of 6ft 10in Ivo Karlovic, who had dropped just one service game and slammed 87 aces on his way to the final, but came through 6-7 (3-7), 6-4, 7-6 (7-2).

Murray had the first and only break point in the fifth game of the first set, but squandered the chance as the world No103 Karlovic held to edge 3-2 ahead.

The set went with serve to 6-6 and in the tie-break it was Karlovic who held his nerve. He forced a mini-break on the Murray serve to go 4-3 ahead, earning himself three set points and wrapped things up at the first time of asking with a second mini-break. The giant Croatian fired down 12 aces in the first set to Murray's two.

The pair traded breaks at the start of the second set but Murray levelled the match when he took a first set-point opportunity at 40-30 on the Karlovic serve in the 10th game.

The 27-year-old Karlovic was unable to take a chance to break in the first game of the decisive set, which ran with serve to 5-5.

Murray also found himself up against it in the 11th game but saved a break point before eventually holding.

The 19-year-old had a championship point on the Karlovic serve in game 12, but the big man held to force a decisive tie-break.

Murray claimed a vital mini-break on the second Karlovic serve, and when he secured a second to go 5-2 ahead he had the chance to serve out for the title.

"I've never played anybody like him. There's nobody else as big as him on the tour or anywhere near," Murray said. "You just have to hang in. He's probably the best server in the game but he's not the best returner. So you have to focus on your service games and try and keep it tight. Once it gets close in a set anything can happen."

The Scot is ranked No13 in the world, and both of his career titles have come in San Jose, where he also beat Lleyton Hewitt in a third-set tiebreaker a year ago. He also won a challenger event in nearby Aptos in 2005.

"I don't think it's anything in particular," Murray said. "Maybe I've just been more lucky than in other tournaments."

It also proved to be a happy tournament for Andy's brother, Jamie. He teamed up with American Eric Butorac to beat Chris Haggard and Rainer Schuettler 7-5, 7-6 (8-6) in the doubles final. The Murrays became the first brothers to win the singles and doubles titles at the same event since Emilio and Javier Sanchez at Kitzbuhel in 1989.