Ivan Ljubicic has made a habit of starting seasons in grand fashion.

The No. 2 seed from Croatia, Ljubicic posted a 6-4 6-4 victory Saturday over fourth-seeded Andy Murray of Britain to win the Qatar Open.

It was the seventh career title for Ljubicic, who took home the first prize in this hardcourt event.

The world No. 5, Ljubicic also opened last season with a title, defeating Carlos Moya in straight sets to win the Chennai Open in India. The Croat reached the finals here in 2004 and 2005, as well.

"It's a fantastic feeling - the second year in a row going to the Australian Open with a title in my pocket," said Ljubicic, who improved to 13-2 all-time in this tournament.

"The confidence is very high. But the conditions there are different, so I have to start from the beginning."

This year, however, Ljubicic would not settle for second place.

He converted a break point to win the 59-minute first set before breaking the 19-year-old Murray again to close out the match.

"I knew I had to be aggressive, but not too aggressive," said Ljubicic, who saved six break points in the match's opening game.

"Against someone like Andy, you need to find the perfect balance, because if you go to the net too much, he will pass you. And if you stay at the baseline, he's too solid. So the combination was the key today."

Making his first ATP finals appearance since last July at Washington, DC, Murray saved a pair of match points before finally succumbing to Ljubicic, who needed to scramble for third-set tiebreaker victories in both the quarter-finals and semi-finals.

But the 27-year-old Croat did not need any late heroics on Saturday and improved to 7-9 all-time in finals.

"I was very pleased that my body felt fine two days in a row after the three-set battles," he said.

"My body is definitely ready, so I'm pleased that I prepared well for the season. It's nice that even when you aren't playing your best tennis, you can count on your body."

Murray fell to 1-3 all-time in finals in his young career. He has not won since San Jose last February.

"It's a great start to the year," he said.

"Obviously I would have rather won, but to get to the final is perfect. I should be feeling pretty good when I go into Australia."