Tennis: Andy Murray loses, but Colin Fleming tastes doubles joy

THERE were mixed fortunes for Scottish tennis at the weekend, as Andy Murray slipped to a straight-sets defeat in the final of the Dubai Duty Free Championships on Saturday afternoon while, in Florida yesterday, Colin Fleming teamed up with Ross Hutchins to win the doubles final at the Delray Beach International Championships.

Murray was disappointed at the number of errors he committed during his 7-5 6-4 loss to Federer in a contest that lasted a little over an hour and a half. The world No 4 had been in impressive form on Friday in defeating Novak Djokovic in the semi-finals but 24 hours later he couldn’t prevent his Swiss opponent racking up the 72nd title of his illustrious career.

“I made a few too many mistakes in the second set and he was playing a lot more aggressive than in the first set,” said Murray. But, overall, he was happy with his efforts in Dubai. “It was a good week,” he added. “It was perfect preparation for the stretch over in America. I got through very tough matches against top players, so it was good.”

Murray didn’t have time to dwell on the defeat, jetting straight to Los Angeles ahead of the first Masters tournament of 2012, the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, which runs from 8-18 March.

In Florida, meanwhile, Murray’s good friend Hutchins and West Lothian-born Fleming tasted doubles success when they overcame Czech player Michal Mertinak and Brazilian Andre Sa 6-2 6-7 (13-15) at Delray Beach. The British pair had booked their place in the final with a 7-6 (8/6) 6-4 victory over Mikhail Elgin and Denis Istomin on Saturday.

“Get in there!” tweeted Fleming last night. “Absolute battle today and came back from the brink but feels great to win the title. Going for a celebratory dinner in Miami before flying to Indian Wells tomorrow. Would be rude not to...”