Novak Djokovic
Djokovic sweeps aside Murray to claim another honour in the Spanish capital Getty Images

World no. 1 Novak Djokovic has defeated Andy Murray in the final of the Madrid Open. Murray, 28, fought back in the second set in his attempt to defend his Madrid title but fell to a 6-2 3-6 6-3 defeat.

The Briton had defeated home favourite Rafael Nadal in Saturday (May 7)'s semi-final but defeat on Sunday (May 8) will see him slip to third in the world rankings, with Roger Federer to move up to second.

After Murray dropped serve in the opening game of the first set, Djokovic cruised into an emphatic lead, not facing a single break point as he took the first set at a canter. Murray responded in the second, however, securing his first break points in the fourth game with Djokovic serving up a double fault that saw his opponent take a 3-1 lead. Murray completed the fightback with an audacious drop shot from the back of the court that his opponent was nowhere near to.

Murray recovered from falling 2-0 behind in the decider only for Djokovic to break him again at 3-2. The Serbian had rediscovered his relentless form and despite Murray saving match point at 5-2, he was unable to prevent Djojkovic sealing a fifth title of 2016, extending his personal record over the British no. 1 to 23-9.

"The first couple of break points, I remember making two mistakes," said Murray, BBC Sport report.

"It was kind of back and forth from there and unfortunately I couldn't quite break, which was a shame because both of us on the break points until that last game were pretty clinical."