Andy Murray beat world number one Rafael Nadal to win the ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament in a scrappy encounter at Rotterdam's Ahoy Arena.

Murray looked comfortable as he took the first set 6-3 but both players struggled to hold serve in the second, which Nadal won 6-4 before the Scot took advantage of an injury to Nadal's right knee to win the third 6-0 and pick up his 10th ATP title.

The 21-year-old Murray was carrying an ankle injury he picked up during his quarter-final win over Marc Gicquel, but showed little signs of early discomfort as he raced around the court before burying two forehands to take his first service game.

Nadal held before spurning his first break point to allow Murray to take a 2-1 lead. The match stayed with serve as Murray let a 0-30 lead slip to lose the fourth before he thundered an ace down on the way to take a 3-2 lead despite his second double fault of the game.

A series of unforced errors from the Spaniard gave the Scot two break points and he seized the opportunity at the second attempt when Nadal sent a forehand long to give Murray a 4-2 lead.

Murray held before Nadal found top gear to win the eighth to love but a composed Murray showed no nerves as he clinched the first set 6-3 by holding his service game to love.

The British number one carried his momentum into the second set by keeping Nadal pinned to the baseline but the Spaniard was equal to Murray's efforts and held his first service game.

Pinpoint-serving allowed Murray to level before the world number four took the third game to deuce thanks to an incredible pass after a powerful Nadal smash at the net. The Spaniard responded in a clinical fashion, however, to take a 2-1 lead.

The Spaniard received treatment to his right thigh before returning and that seemed to affect Murray's concentration as he ploughed a simple forehand into the net to allow Nadal to break.

Both players then failed to hold serve for the remaining six games of the set before Nadal clinched the second set 6-4 when Murray hit a backhand long.

Murray broke Nadal's first game in the third to love before holding to take a 2-0 lead. Nadal's right knee seemed to be causing him problems and he double-faulted on the way to allowing Murray to break again to give the Scot a commanding lead.

He won the next two games with ease before breezing past the despondent Nadal with an ace in the sixth to pick up his second title of the year.

Murray had mixed feelings after running out victorious.

He told Sky Sports: "It is a shame for him after he injured his knee at the start of the second set. The play was up to a good standard in the first set.

"I'm happy to win but I would have preferred it if he wasn't hurt.

"I have started well this year. I would have liked to have done better in the Australian Open (he lost in the fourth round) but I got better here as the week went on and I'll try and keep it going now."

Nadal soldiered on to take the second set but his injury caused him to struggle with his serve before capitulating in the third.

Murray admitted he still found it hard going despite his opponent's injury, struggling as he was with an injury of his own.

He added: "It was tough in the second set. He was still managing to beat me on one leg.

"He was hitting his serve at 150 kilometres per hour which is obviously very slow for him, but he was still hitting his groundstrokes very hard. He was still managing to generate some pace despite the injury.

"He's obviously started the season right with the win at the Australian Open and he'll go on to bigger and better things in the year."

Murray's own injury has forced him to withdraw from the defence of his Marseille Open title next week, but the Scot was hopeful he could recover soon.

"I can still feel it, it's pretty swollen but the physio did a very good job in keeping it under control," he said.

"There's still clicking and cracking down there but I'm hoping it will be gone in three or four days."

Nadal, meanwhile, hailed Murray's performance.

"It was a very important week for me, but Andy has had a wonderful year and I would like to congratulate him," the six-time Grand Slam winner said.