Murray's the new master as he turns the heat up on Djokovic

The British No 1 finally managed to convert a sixth matchpoint to see off third seed Djokovic 7-6, 7-6 in two hours and 20 minutes of gruelling rather than glittering combat.

Great Scot: Andy Murray raises the trophy after beating Novak Djokovic in their Cincinnati Masters final.

Of the five ATP titles he has won, this £1.3million event is easily the biggest, belonging to the nine Masters events that sit just below the four Grand Slams in terms of prestige.

Not only does it elevate Murray to No 6 in the world, it also establishes him among the favourites for the Olympics next week and the U.S. Open at the end of the month.

Murray waited until last week to register a first professional win over Djokovic, the player who was his main rival in the juniors, and now he has overcome him twice.

While the 21-year-old Scot deserves every accolade, particularly for his clearly superior physical condition in 100-plus temperatures, he could have won this without shredding his supporters' nerves.

He served for the match at 5-3 in the second set but was hampered by two double-faults and then failed to close out four match points that he went on to create.

With Djokovic hitting out in near desperation, there was only one unforced error from Murray among the four but the momentum suddenly swung away from him.

He sped ahead to 4-2 up in the subsequent second tiebreak, but was pegged back to 4-4 before striking one of his superb crosscourt backhands to go 5-4 ahead.

Djokovic saved one more match point at 4-6, but Murray then managed to drill a backhand down the line to clock up what should prove to be a landmark win.

'It's a huge relief,' said Murray. 'I got pretty nervous but managed to hang in there. I kept fighting and that's the difference between now and in the past, maybe before I would have let it get to me.

'These are some of the toughest conditions we come across. I've played nine matches in the last 12 days and all the physical work I have done has paid off.'

Murray is now very much in the shake-up of rankings currently taking place at the top of the game, caused partly by the Olympics bringing the North American Masters further forward in the cycle this year.

Winner: Murray powers a backhand.

While Rafael Nadal is guaranteed to take over the No 1 spot from Roger Federer this month - Jelena Jankovic will usurp Ana Ivanovic on the women's tour - the British No 1 is the biggest mover just below.

He will be at a career-high No 6 this morning, overtaking Andy Roddick, David Nalbandian and James Blake in pursuit of the Spaniard.

The first set was actually not as close as it looked, with Murray forcing error after error from his opponent via a clever mix of speeds and angles on his groundstrokes.

The psychological shift between these two caused by the Scot's victory in Toronto last week was apparent, with the Serb playing with an unusual lack of purpose, especially for one who had just ended Nadal's run of 34 wins the previous day.

Aside from the opening game Djokovic was continually under pressure on his own serve and at 2-2 he saved a break-point when Murray's backhand hit the net cord and landed wide.

Two games later there was another break-point, this time brilliantly saved by a backhand drop-shot from the world No 3. Djokovic's forehand was proving highly unreliable and was duly peppered by his opponent, causing cries of frustration more associated with the Murray of old.

The momentum was such that it was little surprise Murray was able to run away with the tiebreak and he raced to 6-2 up helped by one 135mph ace. The Serb pulled him back to 6-4 but then missed a backhand to concede the set in a gruelling 71 minutes.

Djokovic's early 2-1 lead in the second came out of the blue when he converted a third break chance through a missed Murray backhand. It was immediately handed back, however, when he served two consecutive double-faults to allow Murray, one week his senior, straight back into it.

In a summer that has been dominated by the Federer- Nadal rivalry, this may prove to have been a glimpse of the game's next great battles.