Murray stuns World Number One Federer in Dubai

Young Scot Andy Murray stunned everybody with his defeat of Roger Federer in Dubai. The Telegraph told the story, suggesting that Federer's time at the top was potentially reaching an end...

Andy Murray's 6-7, 6-3, 6-4 success over Roger Federer in the Dubai Open, a remarkable victory in which the Briton did not drop serve throughout, did more than suggest that Murray can soon climb among the leading handful in the men's game.

It raised questions as to whether the great player who has dominated the game so utterly over the past four years has at last become vulnerable. It was the first time Federer had lost in a first-round match since August 2004, when he was beaten by Dominik Hrbaty of Slovakia in the Masters Series in Cincinnati.

One had the impression then that Federer was not too worried, because the loss came when he was worn out from his previous weeks' efforts. Yesterday's setback, however, left him looking distinctly disconcerted.

"My forehand was awful many times," the world No1 said. He was lacking in match play, he added. But he was lacking confidence too. The mental battles, so many of which in the past having been decided before his matches had begun, may now have to be won again.

Not only has Federer now lost twice in a row to Murray, he has yet to win a tournament this year, having lost in the Australian Open semi-finals. Then he may have been affected by illness. Now, however, he claimed to be feeling much better. And yet he played worse.

Some of this was due to Murray, who had his mind buttoned down, his tactics roughly right and his execution spot on. He played within himself for 20 minutes, rarely attempting too much and surviving only one mini-crisis, at deuce on his serve in the fourth game. This phase was a sign that he would not beat himself and a signal to Federer that he would have to play well to win.

For a while, Federer did. But in the tie-break Murray launched a series of blistering attacks and the match changed character. Murray reached 5-2 with a mini-break and should have won the set. "I was disappointed with what I did then," he said.

There was one return of serve he should have made and an attempted pass he could have made. Federer hit some imperious forehands, made a break back for 5-5, saved a set point on his serve, and then nicked the set with a trademark forehand inside-out attack taken, outrageously, from the backhand side. It was the master doing what he has so often done so brilliantly - pirating the points which matter most, making the raid with something slightly different.

"He played well and hung on when it mattered," Federer said, honestly, though there were moments when his edginess betrayed him in his words as well as in his ground-stroke error-ratio.

Murray was better than a hanger-on. His ability to attack hard increased as the match progressed, the Scot reassured that he could take risks without imploding. After he broke for 4-2 in the second set, completing with a hurtling forehand pass, Federer never looked like breaking back. Murray was too comfortable behind his own serve and was applying pressure with his court coverage and tactical mixes.

He also served forcefully, making 10 aces and at least twice that number of service winners. In the third set his expression became more menacingly mask-like, his gait more confidently languorous; he once even made a backhand drive around the net-post. Eventually he got the match's only other break of serve, but this time it was Federer who lost it. The champion delivered an unchampion-like double fault in the sixth game to go 0-30 and after he was called for another double fault and had it replayed via Hawkeye he slewed a straight forehand into the tramlines under pressure after a change of pace from Murray.

Federer never got near to saving the match. Murray closed it out matter-of-factly, dropping only one point in his last two service games, as though the second round were already part of his itinerary.

The most telling moments were not when Murray was serving well; nor were they when he coolly and unfussily converted his breaks of serve into winning leads in the second and third sets. They were in the way he received the achievement of his victory.

He strolled up to the net and patted Federer on the shoulder, as if to say "better luck next time", and then continued strolling around as if it were all not very much at all. Federer left the court at once. Murray had taken over his act. Act two will have a different psychology