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Rome/Italy — HEAD star Andy Murray celebrated a special 29th birthday with a 6-3, 6-3 victory over top rival Novak Djokovic to win the Rome Masters in a HEAD-2-HEAD clash at the Foro Italico. The record-setting win in just over 90 minutes in light rain ended a big day for the first Briton to play the Rome final. Murray, who recommends the HEAD Graphene XT Radical, will return to second in the world behind Djokovic, who was in the chase for a record 30th Masters 1000 title. The win came a week after Djokovic beat Murray in the Madrid title as the pair prepares for the start of the French Open, where they will lead the seedings.

The Serb, who endorses the HEAD Graphene XT Speed, came to the court lacking energy after going three hours the night before in his semi-final win over Kei Nishikori. Murray moved through to the final in less than an hours over the French lucky loser Lucas Pouille.

Andy Murray now owns three clay titles out of his total haul of 36, taking trophies at Munich and Madrid last season. Since the start of 2015, he has compiled a 29-3 record on the dirt. Djokovic still leads their career series with a comfortable 23-10 record.

Djokovic admitted he was beaten by the better player on the day: “Andy had a great week, he was just too good today. I’ve had a week full of emotion. I’ve spent many hours on the center court. Three matches of three sets each. It’s not easy to come out here fresh and face Andy. He played much better than I did and deserved the victory,” he said as he spoke Italian to the crowd.