At the start of the year, the question asked of Novak Djokovic was could he repeat the kind of tennis that led him to dominate the tour in 2011.

Unfortunately for Andy Murray – and the rest of the chasing pack – the answer appears to be yes.

The Serb's 6-1, 7-6 victory over Murray in last night's Sony Ericsson Open final in Miami gave him his second title of the year, his 11th Masters 1000 crown and the 30th tournament win of his career.

It was not a vintage match as neither man produced his absolute best, but Djokovic showed just why he is the world No.1 as he fended off a resilient Murray in the second set to win his third Miami title.

For Murray, the effect of two walkovers on the way to the final, including one over Rafael Nadal in the semi-final, perhaps dented a bit of his sharpness. But the most telling statistic was that Murray, one of the world's best returners, could force only one break point on the Djokovic serve.

"In the first set, Novak served and returned very, very well," Murray said. "In the second set, I was getting into more of his service games. It was really tough conditions, with a lot of long points. Two hours, 18 minutes is a long time for a two-set match but he played better and deserved to win, for sure. I think he played the best tennis all week. He played really, really well."

Murray went into the match with the confidence of knowing he had beaten Djokovic in their last match, a semi-final in Dubai in February. But the Serb had denied Murray in an epic semi-final at the Australian Open and, when the big moments came, he stepped up again.

Murray's lone break point came at 1-3 in the first set, immediately after the Scot had been broken for the first time and, in hindsight, might have been his best chance to make a fight of the first set.

But Djokovic saved it with a heavy serve out wide, followed by a wrong-footing forehand drive volley and that, effectively, was that, for the first set at least.

The work Murray has been doing with coach Ivan Lendl on the practice court had paid off in the early rounds, with a heavier forehand and his court positioning (on or close to the baseline) the most notable changes.

But in the first set against Djokovic, in hot and humid conditions, Murray occasionally looked unsure of his game plan, hesitating at times as to whether to attack or play the waiting game.

The second set was as tight as the score suggests but it was always Murray who was fighting the hardest to hold on to his serve.

He needed to play some of his best tennis of the match to hold for 3-2 and 4-3 and, in the eighth game, he gave himself half a chance as he forced 0-30 on the Djokovic serve.

The Serb was breathing heavily between points and, given his past problems with playing in the heat, Murray must have sensed a chance.But the world No.1 buckled down to serve himself out of trouble, with the help of some outstanding defence when Murray did get his teeth into a return or two.

The Djokovic resistance was so powerful that it seemed only a matter of time before Murray would wobble and a double fault handed the top seed a break point chance to lead 6-5.

To his credit, Murray saved it with a big forehand winner and, after holding, he forced Djokovic to deuce by playing some of his most aggressive tennis of the entire match.

Djokovic held serve to force a tiebreak and, after splitting mini-breaks early on, another Murray double fault put the Serb 3-2 ahead.

The world No.1 maintained the advantage to 5-4 before hitting a forehand winner on to the sideline to set up match point, then clinched victory when Murray sent a forehand long.

Having lost to Murray in Dubai, then to John Isner in the semi-finals at Indian Wells, there had been a suggestion a few people were beginning to question his confidence. But this win over Murray, which further cements Djokovic's position at the top of the rankings, was the perfect answer to those who dared doubt him.

"It's great," he said. "I managed to come up with my best tennis when I needed to so I'm really delighted. There were a lot of long rallies and points with Andy. I knew he is a great baseline player, a great player. I had a couple of chances maybe to break him in the second set and close it out, but then he was very close to winning that second set too."

Both Murray and Djokovic will now turn their minds to clay, with the first events of the clay-court season, in Casablanca and Houston, due to begin a week today.

For Murray it will be another chance to show the progress he is making under Lendl, but for Djokovic it will be the first step on what he hopes will be the path to a fourth-straight grand slam title – in Paris.

"It's the start of a clay-court season which hopefully will be highlighted with the French Open (win)," Djokovic said. "That is my priority this year, along with the Olympics."