Andy Murray beat Philipp Kohlschreiber 7-6 5-7 7-6 to win the Munich Open
Andy Murray won his first clay court title with a 7-6 (7-4) 5-7 7-6 (7-4) win over Germany's Philipp Kohlschreiber at the BMW Open in Munich on Monday.
The ATP final between top-seeded Murray and Kohlschreiber had been postponed until Monday due to persistent rain on Sunday.
With the score at 3-2 to the German, the quality battle continued when the players returned to the court, with the first set eventually going to a tie-break which Murray won 7-6 (7-4).
In the second, the British No.1 broke early but could not sustain the momentum, letting Kohlscreiber back into the match with a break of his own after some persistent pressure.
Murray then conceded a decisive service game at 5-5, which meant Kohlscreiber just needed to hold his serve to push the game to a third set, taking it 7-5.
The fifth seed continued to play with defiance in the decider, bouyed by the support of the home fans, to push the third to another tie-break. It was a gruelling tussle between the pair and was reminiscent of their epic five-setter in their third round at Roland Garros last year when Murray claimed victory after winning the tie-breaker 12-10.
In the final shoot out, Murray dropped a point on serve to hand his opponent a 3-2 lead before hitting a stunning crosscourt return to level things up. The Scot broke serve again for a mini-break before holding on for his 32nd career title and first on clay in just over three hours.
As he builds up to the French Open, Murray was pleased to break his duck on clay - almost 40 years since Buster Mottram took Britain's last tour win on the dirt.
"It was a really tough match, he served very close to the line and I was getting frustrated," Murray said after collecting the title.
"The rain made things really tough, but as a Scot I'm used to that. It's been a hard couple of days, so I am very happy to have won, especially on clay.
"I didn't realise I was the first Brit to win on clay for so long, so that's obviously an honour."
Murray looks set to meet Kohlschreiber again in a matter of days when he will play his opening match at the ATP Madrid Masters 1000. If world No 24 Kohlschreiber can get past Colombian qualifier Alejandro Falla in the first round, he will get his chance to avenge this defeat to Murray.
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