Andy Murray has praised the performance of Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov during their Brisbane Open final this morning.
Murray beat the world number 48 in straight sets to retain his Brisbane crown, but Dimitrov did not make it easy for the Scot.
The challenger raced into a 3-0 lead in the first set, winning 11 of the first 12 points before forcing Murray to a first set tie-break. He also broke the Scot in the second, and Murray believes that Dimitrov has a bright future in the game.
"It's his first final. Everyone will agree he played some extremely exciting tennis, it was a very tough match," said Murray.
"He's just changed coaches, started with a new team, so congratulations to them - I'm sure they're going to do great things together."
The win gave Murray the 25th title of his career ahead of the Australian Open, which starts on January 14.