Rafael Nadal had clung to a place in the ABN AMRO World Tournament in Rotterdam by the force of an extraordinary will, but Andy Murray prised his massive fingers from the precipice yesterday and hoisted his standard on the spot that had been reserved for the Spaniard. For Murray, the tenth tournament success of his career and the first time that he had beaten a sitting world No l to do so was a marked moment. For Nadal, an anxious few days lay ahead.

The upshot of the British No 1’s 6-3, 4-6, 6-0 victory in yesterday’s final was that, by the end of next month, he may become the most successful player from these islands in the modern era. Britain has not had a world No 3 and Murray is breathing down the neck of the becalmed Novak Djokovic, the 500 points gained in the new ranking order taking him to a shade more than 1,000 behind the Serb, who has title-winning points to defend next month in the first Masters Series event of the year, in Indian Wells, California.

All this is further encouragement to Murray, who has beaten Nadal in their past three matches — two tour victories and an exhibition in Abu Dhabi. Much rests on how Nadal recovers from the latest bout of tendinitis in his right knee that forced him out of the Masters Cup and the Davis Cup final at the end of last year.

He completed yesterday’s final with the protective strapping removed from beneath his right kneecap, virtually standing on the spot and crunching the ball in the hope that he might keep working his opponent around the court. But Nadal lost his final six service games — the previous time that happened, he had probably not yet taken a razor to his face. Indeed, ten of the last 13 games were breaks — a combination of Nadal’s fragility and Murray’s anxiety, all of which melted away in the final set.

The final set, though — the first love set that Nadal had dropped since the final of the 2007 Masters in Paris to David Nalbandian, of Argentina — was an endorsement of all that is rich in the Scot’s game: two aces in the first and third service games, another to round it off, only four missed first serves (a luxury he did not enjoy in the first two sets) and steadiness personified off the ground.

One could argue whether Nadal needed this tournament — neither Roger Federer nor Djokovic has come out to play since the Australian Open — and there are times when the Spaniard allows a duty to the game to outweigh personal consideration. Richard Krajicek, the Wimbledon champion in 1996 and the tournament director in Rotterdam, had flown to Madrid last October to ratify the contract, sent a private jet to speed Nadal’s passage and noticeably made a beeline for the vanquished rather than victor at the end of the event.

When he did approach Murray, he found the tournament’s first British champion wreathed in smiles. The 21-year-old was the epitome of contentment throughout the week — not least beating so handily two players of the fast-court quality of Ivan Ljubicic and Mario Ancic, the Croats — and has put the disappointment of losing in the fourth round in Melbourne behind him. “I’m satisfied with the week, although I wish it would have ended with me having to play against him in the second and third sets like I did in the first, when I thought my level was very high,” Murray said. “It was tough to keep my rhythm when he was hurt and I didn’t serve well in the second set.

“Each time you beat a top player, especially knowing you were dictating a lot of the points when he was playing well, makes you feel good,” Murray, who has pulled out of this week’s tournament in Marseilles, said.