Murray wins St Petersburg Open

St Petersburg:

Second-seeded Andy Murray won his third career title on Sunday, beating sixth-seeded Fernando Verdasco 6-2, 6-3 in the final of the St Petersburg Open.

Earlier this season, Murray defended his title in San Jose and was runner-up at Doha and Metz.

With the victory, the 20-year-old Briton has improved to 41-13 this season and boosted his chances of qualifying for the season-ending Tennis Masters Cup in Shanghai, starting Nov 11.

Murray broke Verdasco in the third game of the first set. Leading 3-2, he won five consecutive games to go 2-0 up in the second set.

The 16th-ranked Murray saved a break point in the fourth game and had three break points on Verdasco's serve in the next game but failed to convert. He closed out the match on his first match point.

Murray broke into the top 10 earlier in the season and was at a career-high No 8 for two weeks in June before injuring his wrist to be sidelined for three months.

The Briton is 11th in the Champions Race with 326 points, three behind No 8 Tommy Haas, who is followed by Tommy Robredo (328 points) and James Blake (327).

Fernando Gonzalez has 380 points to be seventh. Four more players are still in contention - Tomas Berdych (322), Richard Gasquet (321), Carlos Moya (316) and Ivan Ljubicic (315).

Six players have already qualified for the event. The two spots left will be decided at the Paris Masters.