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 The Serb collected his fifth title of 2016 after winning the Qatar
Open, Indian Wells, Miami Open and Australian Open, in which he also
defeated Murray in the final.
The Scot, who also lost second place in the world rankings to Roger
Federer, knocked out crowd favorite Rafael Nadal in the semi-finals
but Djokovic proved a more formidable opponent, breaking him three
times in the opening set.
Murray hit back in the second but had no answer in the third as
Djokovic repeated his 2011 Madrid Open triumph.
"I started very well and played terrific tennis in the first set,"
said Djokovic.
 "There were a couple of close games in the second set ... and I made
some unforced errors and double faults in the game when I dropped my
serve. So I fought...very hard."
Djokovic also collected his 64th career title, equaling tennis
greats Pete Sampras and Bjorn Borg.
"It's obviously very flattering to be alongside such legends of the
sport, players that I looked up to, especially Pete Sampras," he
said.
"When I was growing up he was ruling the tennis world. To win as
many titles as he did in his career, it's quite amazing."
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Murray said his opponent played the better tennis.
"Novak has had a lot of wins against me in the last couple of years
unfortunately but he has done some great things and also deserved
this win," the Scot added.
"At the end he came up with some big serves and got himself some
free points and did well. That's why he's number one just now."
(Reporting by Richard Martin, editing by Ed Osmond)
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