Murray stuns Nadal in Japan Open final

Andy Murray picked up his second successive ATP title at the Japan Open after stunning Rafael Nadal in three sets.

Murray had lost his past five matches against Nadal and he looked on course for another loss after struggling with his serve in the opening set. However Murray refused to get despondent and outplayed the top seed from there onwards to race home for a 3-6, 6-2, 6-0 victory.

The final set was easily the finest Murray has ever played against his great rival. On a medium paced hard court, Murray never gave Nadal the chance to settle, consistently stepping inside the baseline and ripping winners. It's pure joy to watch Murray when he's playing that well, everything was coming off the sweet spot and there was none of the anger and frustration which has characterised his encounters with the Spaniard in the slams this year.

"I played some great tennis and the third set was some of the best I've played against him," Murray said. "There were a lot of close games towards the end of the first set and beginning of the second and I managed to get the momentum and didn't give him many chances after that."

Nadal was a little shell-shocked but he had nothing but praise for his opponent, saying, "Andy played unbelievable. He deserves the title. I've lost a few sets 6-0 of course. You prefer it doesn't happen, but he played fantastic and in the third set he started to play at a really high level. Accept. That's it."

Murray later capped a perfect day by capturing the doubles title with his brother Jamie.