Murray's 6-4, 7-6 (8/6) victory over unseeded Frenchman Gilles Simon in the Madrid Masters earned the Scot his fourth singles title of the year and second in successive Masters Series tournaments following his win in Cincinnati.

Neither Henman nor Greg Rusedski managed to do that during their lengthy careers, with both winning one each in Paris, although they did reach No.4 in the world, and Murray acknowledged being the first Brit to achieve it is an extra boost for him.

"It's great to make a little bit of history," said Murray.

"This was huge for me. Although Tim and Greg have achieved a lot more than I have over a long period in tennis, I've done something that neither of them were able to do."

Aside from taking his tally of career singles titles to seven, 21-year-old Murray also reached his first grand slam final this season at the US Open, where he broke into the world top four.

When asked if he thought he was the best British player since Fred Perry, Murray said: "No, Tim was definitely much, much better than me. Over eight or nine years he was in the top 10, always playing well in Wimbledon, making the semi-finals in all the grand slams (except the Australian Open]."

He added: "Tim was obviously a great player for eight, nine years, that's how tough it is to win a Masters Series, and the ones that I have won, it's not like I've beaten bad players.

"I've beaten (Roger) Federer and Novak (Djokovic) in the last two that I've won, and Djokovic in the one before that when I lost in the semis, so I'm having to beat really good players to do it consistently."