Monday 9th January, 2012 13 Murray wins Brisbane International title BY JOHN PYE He raced through the first set against ranking in 2011 and was aiming for his sec- Doglopolov in 26 minutes — he didn’t lose a ond ATP title, but was never in contention BRISBANE, Australia (AP) — Andy point on his own serve until the last game, in the final. Murray warmed up for the Australian Open when the Ukrainian twice had breakpoint He has now lost all three matches with a commanding 6-1, 6-3 win over third- chances but was unable to convert. against Murray, including the Australian seeded Alexandr Dolgopolov on Sunday to The No. 4-ranked Murray won nine Open quarterfinals last year. claim the Brisbane International title. straight games from 1-1 in the first to take Dolgopolov strained his groin in his The victory provided the ideal start to the match away from Dolgopolov, who ral- semifinal win over second-seeded Gilles Murray’s parternship with new coach Ivan lied briefly by winning three in a row — Simon and wasn’t at his peak against Lendl, and the eight-time Grand Slam win- including his only service break to get the Murray. ner was courtside for only the second time second set back to 4-3. “I’d like to say sorry for some boring ten- when the 24-year-old Scot lifted the Roy But Murray held to regain momentum nis from me today,” he told the crowd, “but Emerson Trophy. and then broke Dolgopolov’s serve for the that’s the best I could do. “I’d like to thank my team ... Mr. Lendl, fifth time in the match to finish it off in 65 “I wasn’t really fit and feeling good this he’s up there somewhere, hiding,” Murray minutes. week, but I made the final, so I’m really said. “It’s my first week with this new team Murray started the week slowly, drop- happy.” and it was good. I really enjoyed it. ping the opening sets of his first two match- Hopefully it’ll bring more success in the es and complaining of aches future. and pains, but didn’t lose a The 24-year-old Murray’s next task is the service game in the quarterfi- Australian Open, where he has lost the past nal and semifinal as he gradu- two finals, to be 0-3 in major finals overall — ally got his match fitness back a statistic he’s desperate to improve. That’s up to speed. And he didn’t show on top of all the pressure from home to end any sign of the groin strain a drought for British men at the Grand Slam which prematurely ended his tournaments dating back to 1936. 2011 season. His confidence high after capturing his The 23-year-old Dolgopolov 22nd ATP title, Murray will spend the next moved up to a year-end No. 15 week in Andy Murray of Britain holds up the trophy after winning the final Melbourne preparing for the against Alexandr Dolgopolov of Ukraine during the Brisbane Australian Open, International tennis tournament in Brisbane, Australia, Sunday, Jan. which starts Jan. 8, 2012. (AP Photo/Tertius Pickard) 16. beats Parma 5-0 in BY DANIELLA MATTA October with a 4-0 win over 10-man MILAN (AP) — Inter Milan started Lazio, which started the year in fourth the new year in much the same fashion place, four points off Serie A leaders as it ended 2011, with a 5-0 victory over Juventus and AC Milan. Parma in Serie A on Saturday. It took Inter just 13 minutes to take scored both of his goals the lead as Milito side-footed home a in the first half, either side of Thiago great cross from Ricardo Alvarez, who Motta’s strike. added had his most impressive game since join- a fourth in the 56th minute before Marco ing from Velez Sarsfield in the summer. Faraoni grabbed his first Serie A goal. Motta doubled Inter’s lead five min- It was Inter’s fifth win on the trot, a utes later. Milito made a dribbling run run that has propelled Claudio Ranieri’s into the area, however the ball was team up to fifth in the standings — and cleared but only as far as Motta, who the best possible way to prepare for next raced onto it and fired into the bottom weekend’s derby against AC Milan. left corner from 20 yards out. “We like these numbers, we’re cor- Milito grabbed his second of the recting a situation that had become com- game four minutes from the break, head- plicated,” Ranieri said. “We’ve got back ing in Maicon’s cross from 12 yards. fundamental players and they will be our Inter extended its lead in the 56th. real signings this January. Milito mazed his way through the Parma “What’s important is to continue defense before slotting a delightful fighting with determination for every throughball for Pazzini to slot home. ball. Now we’ll enjoy this night, it’s a Parma thought it had a consolation holiday for us tomorrow and then we’ll when Javier Zanetti fired into his own start thinking about Milan and the derby. net but, fortunately for the Inter captain, I still don’t want to talk about our title the flag was up for offside. chances, we’ll see what we have done in Faraoni then scored his first league April, May.” goal, three minutes after coming on for Also significant was Milito’s appar- Milito. The defender unleashed a dipping ent return to form. The Argentine faced 20-yard strike which just crept in under a barrage of criticism this season while the crossbar, giving the goalkeeper no missing several easy chances, before chance. breaking his goalscoring drought in the Earlier, Lazio gave Siena too much last match before the winter break. space and paid dearly for its mistakes. Parma coach Franco Colomba will be Lazio did not heed early warnings sweating on his position after a sixth and fell behind in the 11th minute. game without a win. found himself in a lot of “I think the team allowed Inter to do space and he raced unimpeded downfield things too easily, and with all their skills, into the area before shooting across they took advantage of what we gave Andrea Bizzarri and into the far left cor- them,” Colomba said. “We, on the other ner. hand, missed the chances we created and Lazio found itself further behind in in the end we paid dearly. We deserved to the 35th minute after Lionel Scaloni and lose, but I did- Marius Stankevicius tangled with n’t expect such Franco Brienza in the area and the Siena a heavy defeat. striker tumbled to the ground. “I have a It was a somewhat soft penalty, but good relation- Emanuele Calaio ship with the stepped up and president fired it past the and the outstretched directors, arm of we’ll talk Bizzarri into about what the right cor- we can do ner. to improve the situa- tion this week. Obviously a coach needs to feel the trust of a club.” Earlier, struggling Siena recorded its first victory since

Inter Milan Argentine forward Diego Milito celebrates after scoring dur- ing a Serie A soccer match between Inter Milan and Parma, at the San Siro stadium in Milan, Italy, Saturday, Jan. 7, 2012. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)