Andy Murray produced another dominant display to beat James Blake 7-5 6-4 and clinch his first grass-court title at the Aegon Championships at Queen’s on Sunday. The world number 3 found Blake tough to shake off at first but made an important break at 5-5 in the first set, with both players only breaking each other once in the first 10 games.

Murray went on to win in an hour and eight minutes to become the first British champion at Queen’s since Bunny Austin in 1938. Perhaps more significantly, the top seed in the event has made a statement of intent ahead of Wimbledon, which begins on 22 June. The Scot, who enjoyed his best clay-court season of his career prior to the grass court tournament, made the surface transition with ease as he bids for that elusive first Grand Slam win. The 22-year old did not drop a single set en route to winning the tournament, while only dropping serve twice throughout the week-long event.

Despite Murray’s dominant form, defending champion Rafael Nadal and five-time winner Roger Federer stand in his way at SW19 and the Scot refuses to get drawn in by hype surrounding his chances of lifting the Wimbledon title this year. “I’m a long way from winning Wimbledon,” said Murray. I feel confident but I try not to get too far ahead of myself before I’ve played my first match there. “If I play my best like I have this week I’ve got a chance, but two of the greatest players of all time are going to be there and it will be tough to get past them.”

Murray continued to serve solidly against Blake, who hit plenty of his trademark groundstrokes but his efforts were undone by a series of costly errors. It appeared Murray had got the measure of his opponent early on, breaking him in just the third game. However, Blake broke back immediately and came close to snatching the first set at 5-4 when Murray double-faulted to trail 15-30. A superb drop shot got Murray back in control to take the game and he broke the American again in the following game before holding serve to take the opening set 7-5.

Perhaps because of his English origins, Blake got plenty of support from the crowd after a series of calls went against him. The American, who has an English mothers, matched Murray in the opening 6 games of the second set as each game went with serve. But at 3-3, a wonderful cross-court winner from Murray effectively swung the set in the Scot’s favour as he upped his game to finish off Blake. The trophy was Murray’s fourth tour title of 2009 and sets the 22-year-old up nicely for his assault on the Wimbledon crown. Some bookmakers, such as William Hill have moved to make him second favourite as the injured champion Rafael Nadal awaits confirmation of his involvement and odds of around 5/2 for the Scot looks a decent punt.

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