BRISBANE — An emotional Andy Murray fought back tears and dedicated his victory to “a sick friend” after defeating Grigor Dimitrov in a gripping Brisbane International final Sunday. Defending champion Murray prevailed 7-6, 6-4 after weathering a storm from his 21-year-old Bulgarian opponent in the opening set. The US Open champion played a flawless tiebreaker to win it 7-0 and a clinical second set allowed him to recover a service break and complete ideal preparations for the Australian Open, which begins at Melbourne Park on Jan. 14. “I'd like to dedicate this victory to one of my best friends back home,” Murray said in his speech at the presentation. “You're going to be okay. You're going to get through.” When Murray signed a television lens after the match, he wrote “For You .....”, the third word being indecipherable. He was asked about the dedication in his post-match conference and replied: “Just a sick friend.” Murray's secrecy mirrored his comments after his matches at Wimbledon and the US Open last year when he pointed both index fingers to the sky after all of his matches. Tipsarevic wins Chennai In India, world No. 9 Janko Tipsarevic won the ATP Chennai Open with a masterful fightback to defeat young Spaniard Roberto Bautista Agut in the final Sunday. Serb came back strongly after losing the first set to beat the 80th-ranked Agut 3-6, 6-1, 6-3 in an hour and 49 minutes at the Nungambakkam tennis stadium. Stephens beats Robson In Hobart, American Sloane Stephens broke Laura Robson's service in the opening game and went on to beat the British player 6-4, 7-6 (4), in a first-round match at the Hobart International Sunday. In the only other first-round match, Olga Govortsova of Belarus had a 6-2, 6-1 upset win over fifth-seeded Carla Suarez Navarro of Spain. Kvitova thrashed In Sydney, world No. 8 Petra Kvitova's preparations for the Australian Open suffered another setback when she was thrashed by Dominika Cibulkova in the first round of the Sydney International Sunday. The fifth-seeded Czech was thumped 6-1, 6-1 by her Slovak opponent. Caroline Wozniacki got her preparations for the first Grand Slam of the season, which starts Jan. 14 in Melbourne, back on track with a confident 6-1, 6-2 win over Poland's Urszula Radwanska. Australian Olivia Rogowska was overwhelmed in a 7-5, 6-2 loss to Russian Maria Kirilenko. — Agencies
