Britain’s Andy Murray battled hard but it was ultimately in vain at the Madrid Open final, as he went down 6-2 3-6 6-3 to world number one Novak Djokovic.
The 28-year-old Scot got off to the worst possible start as he was broken in the very first game and went on to lose the opener 6-2.
But Murray fought back with Djokovic double-faulting at 2-1 to open the door back into the match and give up an all-important break of serve.
The Serb’s power and accuracy showed in the decider however, after Murray had already broken back once with Djokovic again double-faulting at the crucial moment.
And despite losing out in an epic final game – where Djokovic survived six deuces and seven break points to hold for the match – Murray was pleased with another good week of work on clay.
“Sorry I couldn’t get the win here today,” he said. “But it’s been a brilliant two years for me here and I love this tournament.
“I look forward to coming back for many more years, but I would have loved to have defended this title. It gets better here every single year.
“The crowd were amazing as well. This is a fantastic stadium with a great atmosphere, and when it is full there really is a lot of noise. The last two days were really, really good.
“Congratulations to Novak on another fantastic win. It feels like there’s been a lot of these results against me in the last couple of years but he is doing fantastic things.”