No Joke(r) as Murray lifts season’s first title

Britain's tennis player Andy Murray with the Mubadala World Tennis Championships trophy after winning the exhibition tournament with a walkover against Serbia's Novak Djokovic who pulled out citing fever on Saturday. - AFP

ABU DHABI (AFP): World number one Novak Djokovic withdrew from the final of the Mubadala World Tennis Championships in Abu Dhabi on Saturday, handing Andy Murray his first title of the season.

Serb Djokovic, known as the Joker in tennis circles, had dismissed Stan Wawrinka in the semi-finals of the exhibition event on Friday but the defending champion revealed on Saturday he was suffering from a fever.