Murray's heading for top - Ljubicic

Andy Murray will head into the Australian Open later this month brimming with confidence despite a final defeat to Ivan Ljubicic in the ExxonMobil Open in Qatar.

Murray failed to take advantage of eight crucial break point chances in the first set before he was beaten 6-4 6-4 by the Croatian world number five. But despite his near-miss the Scot, who is sure to climb from his current world ranking of 17, was hailed by Ljubicic, who said: "He is heading for the top 10 for sure.

"Against Andy you need to find the perfect balance, because if you go to the net too much, he will pass you. And if you stay at the baseline, he is too solid."

Having only given himself two weeks off during a close season largely spent in tough physical preparations in America, Murray believes he has achieved the springboard to more Grand Slam success.

Murray said: "It is a great start to the year. Obviously I would rather have won, but to get to the final is perfect. I should be feeling pretty good when I go into Australia."

Having spurned his first set chances, Murray conceded the fatigue of playing eight singles matches plus three doubles began to catch up with him.

Murray added: "I played OK. I didn't hit the ball as well as I would have liked from the ground. I started to hit it better at the end of the second set, but it was too late.

"I started the match with six break points and you have got to take your chances against him. I didn't take them against him, so it was tough to win. I didn't play well enough."