Murray misses out in Dubai final

Andy Murray admitted he had no answer to Roger Federer as he slipped to a straight-sets defeat in the final of the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships.

The British number one was unable to repeat his semi-final heroics as his Swiss opponent racked up the 72nd title of his career. The day after inflicting a first defeat of the season on world number one Novak Djokovic, Murray went down 7-5 6-4 in just over an hour and a half.

"It's been a good week, I've had a couple of good wins against (Tomas) Berdych and Novak and then it was always going to be a tough challenge against Roger," he said.

The Scot did break the 16-time grand slam champion for the first time in the tournament, but Federer always looked to have the edge.

Murray's serve, which had been so impressive against Djokovic, deserted him in the final, as his first-serve percentage dropped below 50% and he won just 56% of points on his second serve.

Murray added: "He got the better of the match, played a better match and deserved to win. I was very happy to reach the final, but obviously I would liked to have gone one better."

The three-time major finalist had beaten Federer in the last two finals they had been in, Shanghai and Toronto in 2010, but his opponent was too good this time.

"Winning's the best, it solves everything," Federer said.

"I'm really happy it went so well. It's a wonderful tournament to play, and to win is even better. It's been a special week."