ANDY MURRAY sent a signal to the world’s elite here last night as he fought back to beat Lleyton Hewitt, the former world No 1 from Australia, 2-6, 6-1, 7-6 to win the SAP Open, his first ATP Tour title.

Hewitt romped through the first set but Murray increased the tempo to level the match and though Hewitt saved two match points, both with aces, the Scot clinched victory with a stunning backhand winner for the best win of his career.

“This is the biggest moment of my life in tennis so far,” Murray said. “The first two match points he hit two aces and I was getting a bit nervous, but I came through. This is perfect.”

At 18 and nine months, Murray will be inside the world’s top 50 when the new rankings are released today, but more importantly, in defeating Hewitt and Andy Roddick, the world No 3 whom he beat in the semi-finals, back-to-back, he must now be considered a big threat at the year’s grand-slam events.

Hewitt contributed to his own downfall with 11 double faults, but Murray more than matched him in every other part of the game and fully deserved his win. To put the victory in perspective, Murray is more than three years younger than Tim Henman was when he won his first title, and a year younger than Greg Rusedski when he earned his first triumph.

After defeating Roddick in the semi-final, it would have been no surprise had Murray suffered a let-down in form. But he began well, forcing a break point in the opening game, which Hewitt saved with a delicate backhand drop volley. The Scot then netted a forehand to drop his own serve but showed his resilience as he broke back immediately, thanks in part to a double fault from Hewitt.

With a succession of long rallies, Murray and Hewitt were testing each other out, seeing who would crack first and for a fleeting moment it looked as if it would be Hewitt as a forehand winner gave Murray the chance to break for 3-2.

But the former Wimbledon and US Open champion did not achieve the world No 1 ranking by making mistakes and after saving the break point he held for serve and then broke Murray to lead 4-2 as two backhand errors handed the No 3 seed the edge. After holding for 5-2, a good forehand approach from Hewitt forced another error from Murray and gave him the set.

If Hewitt thought Murray was going to capitulate, however, he was sorely mistaken, as a brilliant backhand lob and then a missed backhand from Hewitt handed the Scot a break in the first game.

Having tried to wait for mistakes in the first set, Murray began to increase the power and two brilliant backhand passes helped to clinch a double break at 3-0. Hewitt then attempted to take the game to Murray, but almost every time he approached the net, his opponent rifled winners past him and when Hewitt double faulted for the seventh time, the match was level.

Murray always held the upper hand in the third set, leading 2-0 and 4-2, but Hewitt would not go away as he levelled at 4-4. Murray held for 5-4 and then forced a match point but Hewitt aced him, and amazingly the pattern was repeated two games later as the Australian forced a tie-break.

But after storming to a 6-3 lead in the tie-break, Murray would not be denied and he crunched another backhand cross-court to secure victory.