Andy Murray gave himself a pretty nice birthday present Sunday in Rome as he won his first Italian Open over rival Novak Djokovic, 6-3, 6-3.
Murray, who turned 29 years old, broke serve twice in the second set and once in the first to earn the victory, his first over Djokovic on clay through five attempts. In the past 13 matches between the two, Djokovic had only previously lost one and holds a 23-10 overall head-to-head advantage.
The match, which lasted one hour and 35 minutes in light rain, was ordered to continue by the umpire after Djokovic reportedly indicated the playing surface was becoming too dangerous.
In the second set, Murray earned the win after Djokoic double-faulted to give him match point.
Murray, who hails from Scotland, is the first British singles champion to take the Italian Open title since Virginia Wade did in 1971 when Wade defeated West Germany's Hega Masthoff, 6-4, 6-4. He is the first men's singles winner to do so since George Patrick Huges in 1931 when he defeated France's Henri Cochet, 6-4, 6-3, 6-2.
Djokovic has won the Italian Open four times in 2008, 2011, 2014 and 2015. He has been runner-up three times.
Murray fell to Djokovic the week prior in the Madrid Open final in three sets, and the two could potentially meet again in the French Open, which begins May 22 and will find Djokovic ranked first in the world and Murray ranked second.
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