The Madrileños had purchased their tickets expecting, hoping — and in some cases praying — that Rafael Nadal would contest the final of the biggest tournament in the homeland he has decorated with such finery this year. And if they had had their way, it would have been in competition with Roger Federer. They ended up rising in rapturous applause for a pasty-faced young Scot who, in the past six months, has transmogrified into a champion of definition and destiny.

When Andy Murray raised the cut-glass trophy above his head at the conclusion of his 6-4, 7-6 victory over Gilles Simon, a Frenchman whose ability to rise above fatigue spoke volumes about his character, the response was one of warmth and appreciation. Murray apologised for not having learnt enough Spanish in his two years at the Sánchez-Casal Academy, in Barcelona, to thank them in their native tongue and said when he returns next year, when the tournament will be played on clay in May, he would speak to them in a language they understood.

In whatever patois you favour, Murray is now one heck of a player. He has become the first Briton to win two Masters titles and the first to win four tournaments in a year — trumping Mark Cox’s three in 1975 — with his flourishes in Doha and Marseilles at the start of the year, Cincinnati — his Masters breakthrough — in its midst and now as the autumnal colours come to Spain’s capital.

Just in the past three months the world No 4 has beaten Novak Djokovic on his way to winning in the American Midwest, Nadal en route to the US Open final in New York and now Federer to reach the final yesterday in which Simon, who becomes the French No 1 today, was an opponent both unfêted and unexpected. It was arguably more difficult for Murray to respond to having to face a supposedly inferior player on such a huge stage than it might have been to raise himself against someone who brings such energy and range to the game as Nadal.

But Simon had done for Spanish prospects in a tumultuous 3hr 22min semi-final, after which — as he shadow-boxed with the British radio correspondent — he wondered if he would possibly have the legs to compete decently enough to give the 9,000 full house full value for their money.

There were times in this strained climax to the Mutua Madrileña Masters when Simon did appear as if he might either collapse or vomit; quite possibly at the same time. Which made the match, and Murray’s approach to it, extremely complex. Murray said that beating Federer on Saturday had taken a lot out of him too. Whenever you have to play against the greatest player of the modern era (and quite possibly of all time) and you manage to defeat him, it provides a high from which it is difficult to come down, especially with only 24 hours to do so.

When Federer spoke of the Murray he has competed against recently and how different he has become since the impetuous teenager who shouted and screamed and generally played too often as if he had his feet in a fire, it was fascinating to listen. “He is still fiery, which he is supposed to be,” Federer said. “I just think you need to give young guys time to learn, it’s so much more fun to see them learning. Let’s say you pick [Lleyton] Hewitt, [Andy] Roddick or even Nadal, you never saw a weakness in them, they came on tour and they were like men straight away, no mental lapses.

“I’m not saying it’s boring but you’d rather see a guy fighting through it for a year or two. Andy is like me. You can see how it is before and how it is after. I share that in common with Andy.”

It was not that long ago, in Dubai [in March], that television commentators spent more time apologising to the listeners for Murray’s swear words (easily picked up by the effects microphones at the back of the court) than they did in describing what a good player he was. Murray so much wanted his new coaching team to work, to know that what he had put together after he decided to part with Brad Gilbert, the American, would fuse into a successful group. There are no doubts about that now.

A little too often against Simon, Murray seemed to want to let something happen rather than force the issue himself. His serve has become such a consistent weapon that he clearly expected it would come to his rescue should he falter and there was quite a bit of faltering if truth be told. If anything has set Murray apart, it has been his ability to win protracted rallies, sizing up the opposition and then cutting them down. That did not happen often enough against Simon, who had the last word too often for British taste.

What also marks Murray is his ability to play the killer shot when required. A beautiful forehand lob to break Simon for the first and only time in the first set; a backhand drop shot and follow-up backhand drive down the line to deny Simon a break point in the sixth game of the second set; three aces in a game when first having to serve to stay in that set; and, finally, when two set points down in the tie-break, another drop shot to open the court for a forehand winner and the conviction to draw the flagging Frenchman into another error.

“Earlier this year a lot of people were saying that I needed to work on my serve and that it was one of my weaknesses,” Murray said. “Now I think it’s one of the biggest strengths of my game. Federer had only three break points and he broke me once in a long match. Today I didn’t have any break points against me playing a guy who’s a very good returner.

“The serve was the key for me throughout the tournament. I knew he was going to be tired, but he plays so many matches like that you don’t know how he’s going to come out the next day. It wasn’t as though he wasn’t chasing balls down. He got to some great drop shots.”

A Spaniard asked him if he was the greatest British player since Fred Perry. At long last some colour came to the Murray cheeks. He blushed and rejected the suggestion. “There’s a long way to go before anyone can say that,” he said.

- Laura Robson has been drawn to play Iveta Benesova, the world No 42 from the Czech Republic, on her Sony Ericsson WTA Tour debut proper at the Fortis Luxembourg Open tomorrow. The 14-year-old Wimbledon girls’ singles champion entered the world rankings at No 550 after playing three lower-grade tournaments. Should she beat Benesova, she would play Anna Chakvetadze, the world No 12 from Russia.