Murray takes first China Open title with win over Dimitrov

Britain's Andy Murray reacts as he plays against Bulgaria's Grigor Dimitrov during China Open men's singles final in Beijing, Oct 9, 2016. [Photo/Agencies]

BEIJING -- Britain's Andy Murray won his first China Open title, and the 40th of his career, in a 6-4, 7-6(2) showdown with Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov in Beijing on Sunday.

The No. 1 seed in Beijing did not drop a single set during the entire tournament, but this was not exactly the runaway victory for Murray that some might have expected.

Murray was sharp in the first set, and overcame a weak first serve to log several strong returns that allowed him to break his opponent easily and take it with little fuss.

But although the Scot displayed sound form throughout, he managed to lose control of the match at a pivotal moment when it counted in the second set.

Dimitrov was able to turn up the heat on Murray, leveling to 5-all with a triple break point, and notching 11 points in a row without any reply from the Scot.

Murray said his opponents backhand caught him off-balance at that point, but he adjusted his play with good results.

"In that game he started slicing a lot of backhands. Threw me off my rhythm a little bit. When he started doing that in the tiebreak, and in the game at 6-5, I changed a couple of things, which worked," he said.