Andy Murray was pleased with his performance in his straight sets win over Grigor Dimitrov in the Brisbane International final on Sunday.
The 7-6 (7-0) 6-4 victory ensures the reigning US Open champion will head into the upcoming Australian Open full of confidence as he seeks to win a second grand slam title.
The 25-year-old was happy with how he responded to the challenge posed by Dimitrov throughout the match which saw the Bulgarian race to an early 3-0 lead before the Scot hauled himself back into the match.
"I thought the standard of tennis was good today," Murray said following the win.
"There were a lot of high quality rallies and I had to change a few things. He started the match off very well and was extremely aggressive.
"I managed to start dictating a lot of points and used my forehand well."
Murray was full of admiration for Dimitrov who showed little signs of nerves in what was his first tour final, a point not lost on the world No.3 and he acknowledged the Bulgarian's improvement from when he played him last year.
"I thought he has a lot of variety. He seems a bit stronger than when I [last] played him," Murray said.
"He seemed to enjoy the occasion, which is also important. It's his first final, and he came out and started the match extremely well, which is obviously a good sign.
"It will be interesting to see how the year goes for him."
With his sights now firmly set on Melbourne Park, Murray hopes his tough off-season training regime will allow him to improve on his semi-final exit at last year's Australian Open where he lost an exhausting match to Novak Djokovic which lasted nearly five hours.
"It's been a good start to the year, obviously. I trained hard to get ready for this period of the year. I hope that the Australian Open goes a bit better for me than it did last year."