Andy Murray recovered from a nervous start to beat Stanislas Wawrinka in three sets and claim victory in the final of the Qatar Open in Doha.

The British number one was runner-up to Ivan Ljubicic in last year's tournament but made amends this time around with a 6-4 4-6 6-2 win at the Khalifa Tennis Complex to secure his fourth career title.

Murray took the first set but was broken in the 10th game of the second as Wawrinka levelled the match before the Scot seized the early initiative in the decider to take the title.

Murray said: "It was a really good week. The first four matches were not easy, but relatively comfortable, and that one (against Wawrinka) was by far the toughest.

"I did a lot of running and the quality of tennis was very high.

"I worked really hard in the off-season, on my fitness and on my tennis. It's the hardest I've ever worked in my life so I'm happy it paid off this week.

"It's great, obviously, to win. I've never won a tournament in the first week of the year so it's going to be really good for the confidence."

Both players had failed to hold serve in the opening three games but Murray kept his nerve in the fourth to open a 3-1 advantage.

Wawrinka hit back to level at 3-3 but the 20-year-old from Dunblane broke back and served out to take the set.

Murray, who overcame world number four Nikolay Davydenko of Russia in the semi-finals, finished the first set in style with a thunderous serve wide to Wawrinka's backhand.

The pair found their rhythm in the second set and the early games went with serve although Murray had a chance to break when he took a 0-30 lead in the fourth game, but Wawrinka was able to respond.

The remaining games went with serve but a tired-looking Murray then gave Wawrinka a way back into the match by losing his serve in the 10th game.

The 22-year-old from Switzerland took Murray to deuce before a fine backhand gave him the set 6-4 to take the match to a decider.

Murray quickly put the second set behind him to break Wawrinka's serve in first game of the third set and then held his own to take a 2-0 lead.

The world number 11 almost pressed home the advantage in an intense third game but Wawrinka saved seven break points to remain in touch.

Murray held serve and was then able to capitalise in the seventh game to break Wawrinka again and take a 5-2 lead.

Murray then efficiently despatched his final service game to clinch victory and scoop the £86,000 first prize.

The Scot can now look ahead to the Australian Open, which starts a week on Monday, where he is hoping for a decent draw.

He added: "It was important for me to make the final here so I get seeded in the top 12 seeds because if you're ranked between 13 and 16, you get drawn to play the top four seeds in the fourth round of the Australian Open which obviously is not the best to play Federer, Nadal, Djokovic or Davydenko or Roddick.

"They're really tough players, so obviously by winning here my ranking will move up a bit and I'll have a slightly better draw in Melbourne, hopefully."