Now masterful Murray has his eyes on a treble

The Paris Masters starts on 25 October and is the last of these prestigious tournaments this year.

They are ranked one stage down from the Grand Slams and the world No4 is the first Briton to win back-to-back Masters events.

Murray won in Cincinnati in the build-up to his US Open challenge, which took him all the way to the final in which he lost to Roger Federer.

But in Madrid, Murray gained his revenge over world No2 in the semi-finals and then defeated Frenchman Gilles Simon 6-4, 7-6 in the final to pocket his fourth title of the season and a cheque for £280,000.

Before the 21-year-old Scot can attempt an amazing treble, however, he must board a plane to St Petersburg tomorrow to defend another of his titles.

Given the quality of his play in Madrid, it is a huge ask for Murray to get back up to the top of his game to win in Russia and he said: "I am going to take a couple of days to enjoy this win and then fly to St Petersburg and play the following day. I will try and defend the title but it will be tough.

"For the first time in my career I went into a final as the favourite and was expected to win.

"I knew he would be a bit tired after his long semi-final against Rafael Nadal and that I had to serve great, which is what I did. That was the reason I won.

"I am playing some great tennis at the moment. I need to keep this going and I hope I can do the same in Paris because it was awesome to beat Simon in Madrid."

Murray's serving excellence is highlighted by the fact he hit 67 per cent of his first serves in and that gave him a reliable weapon throughout a contest that lasted 94 minutes. Murray had to save two set points during the second set tie-break but he then powered his way to victory to add another heavy piece of glassware to an expanding trophy cabinet.

The British No1 is already assured of a first appearance at the Masters Cup in Shanghai next month and confirmed his place as the No4 in the world.

He is the first British player to win two ATP Masters Series titles; Tim Henman (Paris 2003) and Greg Rusedski (Paris 1988) claimed one win each.

He is also the first Briton to win back-to-back Masters events and only the third player this season to win four ATP titles joining Juan Martin del Potro (four) and Nadal (eight).

He is also the first British player to win four titles in a season, eclipsing Mark Cox, who captured three in 1975. His other titles this season came in Doha and Marseille.

The way Murray is playing is testament to the work he put in during the short pre-season period in December last year in Florida and there will be another lung-bursting period in the humidity and heat at the end of this season to ensure he is ready for the Australian Open in January.

Murray admitted he was concerned that having taken considerable time off after his US Open defeat by Federer he may have started slowly in Madrid.

He said: "I took a long break and wondered how things would go and I won the first six points of my opening game here and that gave me huge confidence at the start of the week.

"All the off-court work and the coaching support I put together plus the work I do in the gym has meant everything is more structured and that's been the big difference."

Simon's win over Nadal took a lot out of the young Frenchman who is joining a growing list of players who are threatening to break into the very highest levels of the sport.

It will mean Murray is going to have an even tougher time trying to win that first men's Grand Slam title for Britain since Fred Perry in 1936 in the coming years.

Meanwhile, Britain's Laura Robson, the Wimbledon girls' champion who has earned a first career world ranking of No 550, makes her main draw debut in the WTA Fortis Luxenbourg Open, where she takes on Iveta Besanova, the world No42.