Jamie Murray and Bruno Soares win Apia International in Sydney
Saturday 16 January 2016 10:26, UK
Jamie Murray and Bruno Soares made a successful start to their doubles career with victory at the Apia International in Sydney.
Murray, who teamed up with Brazil's Soares after ending his partnership with Australian John Peers at the end of last year, defeated fourth seeds Rohan Bopanna and Florin Mergea 6-3 7-6 (8-6).
The pair won two matches in a day on Friday to make the final after the schedule was disrupted by the weather.
They had won a quarter-final against Australian pair Matt Reid and Jordan Thompson 6-4 6-4 before seeing off Polish duo Lukasz Kubot and Marcin Matkowski 7-5 2-6 10-3.
Murray, who helped Great Britain defeat Belgium in the Davis Cup final two months ago, and Soares reached the semi-finals in Doha in their first event together last week before losing to Spanish duo Feliciano Lopez and Marc Lopez.
Sydney was only the British-Brazilian duo's second tournament together and they now head to the Australian Open in Melbourne with realistic ambitions of becoming Grand Slam champions.
Murray said: "It's testament to us that we fought hard this week. We came through close battles and we're really excited to win our first title together.
"There are some big ones next week and we will try as best we can."
