DESPITE the final of the 2020 ATP Madrid Masters talked up as a highly anticipated clash, the ultimate result was far from the epic expected of the two combatants. Instead, it was a straight sets win to sixth seed Stefanos Tsitsipas, downing British qualifier Andy Murray 6-4 6-1 in an hour and 20 minutes.

Murray was just not at his best on the night, arguably playing his worst game of the tournament. You could take nothing away from the Greek up and comer though as Tsitsipas charged towards his sixth title and second on clay. After failing to defend his Estoril Open title last week and losing a lot of ranking points in the process, the sixth seed was much better this week and had a huge win over Dominic Thiem and then Alexander Zverev over the past two days.

It helped him be more battle-hardened for the final compared to Murray who, whilst he managed to fight off Stan Wawrinka and Cristian Garin, had a smoother run to the final with his opponents also causing upsets along the way to open up the draw for him. In the end, it just was not his night, going down 6-4 6-1 and having to settle for second once again.

Despite the win, Tsitsipas remained in sixth, but held a firm advantage over Zverev after the Greek star went one better than in 2019. Murray continued to shoot up the rankings, all the way into number 24 in the world, a massive bonus for a player who was ranked outside the top 100 a few months ago. The biggest change to the rankings was at the top though, with Rafael Nadal regaining top spot over Novak Djokovic after the Serbian failed to defend his Madrid title from last year.

FINAL RESULT:

[6] Stefanos Tsitsipas (GRE) defeated [Q] Andy Murray (GBR) 6-4 6-1