Roger Federer, Andy Roddick and David Nalbandian preferred to rest in the first week of the year in the hope of snapping into life at the Australian Open, which begins a week on Monday, a risky strategy even for players of their renown. Andy Murray decided to place himself on the line straight away and the result is a second successive final in Doha and commanding performances that suggest he can extend four compelling victories into a fifth.

No player can be guaranteed that they have struck on the right formula, especially so soon in a campaign, but there can be little doubt that the attention of three players who have not yet tasted competitive action in 2008 has been drawn almost exclusively to Murray, who is in a wonderful position to carry to Melbourne one of the three pieces of silverware available on the first week of the ATP Tour.

Murray beat Nikolay Davydenko of Russia, the world No 4, 6-4, 6-3 in the semi-finals of the Qatar MobilExxon Open yesterday and will face Stanislas Wawrinka, of Switzerland, in the final this afternoon.

Before the chicken-counting starts, it ought to be remembered that Wawrinka has beaten the Scot in both their previous meetings, on Murray’s Davis Cup singles debut in Geneva in 2005 and in March the following year in Miami. “A lot has changed since we last met,” Murray said of those two defeats. “I want to win this one. It has been a good week and it would be nice to round it off by winning.”

Wawrinka’s straight-sets victory over Ivan Ljubicic, of Croatia, the champion in Doha in 2007, was every bit as emphatic as that of Murray. But the British No 1 has been the talk of this corner of the Persian Gulf, certainly in its tennis fraternity and the expatriate community. They have marvelled at the 20-year-old’s form, counting themselves fortunate to be able to witness the man’s prodigious promise.

In his four matches, Murray has lost one set and that was such a shocker against Rainer Schuettler, of Germany, in the second round, it can almost be ignored. The rest of the tournament has been a breathtaking endorsement of the change of tack the British No 1 chose to make late last year and his decision to indulge his sport in the company of those who regard tennis as a lot more than a consuming chore from sunrise to sunset.

There will be times when Murray needs to bear down, scowl a little and gnash his teeth, but on the evidence unfolding this week, he is deriving immense pleasure from playing with a smile on his face. He might have been thrashing around in a strop when Davydenko broke his first service game and did not seem able to miss a first serve, taking the edge off his power and preferring a patient approach.

Instead, he bided his time and the moment the Russian’s game dropped a level, Murray instinctively moved through his own gears. He broke back in the sixth game and watched as Davydenko’s forehand crumbled in the tenth, to present the third seed with the set. The Russian appeared nonplussed and decided that moving forward — not his forte — was a tactic worth attempting. He produced a couple of cute, effective backhand stop volleys but Murray suspected, correctly, that he could not keep it up.

Davydenko, who endured a miserable end to 2007, with suspicious betting patterns causing some to question the legitimacy of one of his matches and being punished for “not trying” in another (an umpire’s call that was, quite properly, overturned on review), simply wants to play undisturbed and get back to the levels that propelled him into the world’s top four. He has been a thorn in Murray’s side before, but the Scot has won their past three meetings and not many can say that against the fleet-footed Russian. Wawrinka has twice caught Murray unprepared, but a third time is unthinkable.

One of the young players expected to join Murray’s charge against the established order this year is Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, of France, who followed up his victory over Lleyton Hewitt at Queen’s Club, West London, last summer by thumping the Australian in straight sets in Adelaide, the last time an ATP tournament is to be staged in Hewitt’s home city.