Murray reaches Doha final

Tennis : Andy Murray maintained his impressive start to 2008 by reaching the final of the Qatar Open in Doha for the second successive year.

The 20-year-old Scot overpowered world number four Nikolay Davydenko 6-4 6-3 to repeat his straight-sets win over the top-seeded Russian in last year's semi-finals.

His opponent in tomorrow's final will be Stanislas Wawrinka, the 22-year-old Swiss who was a surprise 7-6 (7-1) 6-4 winner over defending champion Ivan Ljubicic, of Croatia, in the first semi-final.

Murray, who had looked imperious at times this week, made an uncharacteristically nervous start, dropping his serve in the opening game, and allowed his opponent to dominate the early exchanges.

But Davydenko's serving let him down in the sixth game and a double fault got the set back on level terms.

Murray consolidated the break with a first love service game to edge ahead for the first time and broke the tournament favourite a second time to wrap up the first set after 44 minutes.

The Scot then strengthened his grip on the match, forcing Davydenko into a series of errors in an increasingly predictable second set. The confidence visibly ebbed from the Russian as Murray powered on and he was broken again in the fourth game.

The British number one squandered three match points in the eighth game but he duly served out for the victory in an hour and 23 minutes.

© 2008 The Irish Times