Federer too strong for Murray in O2 thriller
BRITAIN’S Andy Murray was reminded what world No1s are made of last night when Roger Federer came from a set down to beat him at the ATP World Tour Finals.
Murray, the world No4, took the first set but saw his serve desert him as 15-time Grand Slam winner Federer powered back to take the Group A clash at London’s O2 Arena 3-6, 6-3, 6-1.
Victory ensures Federer will finish the year at the top of the world rankings and makes him favourite to take one of two qualifying slots for the semi-finals. Murray, meanwhile, needs to beat Fernando Verdasco tomorrow afternoon to stand a chance of reaching the last four.
Murray, one of very few players to regularly get the better of Federer, took a 6-2 head-to-head advantage into the evening match in front of a capacity 17,500 crowd and started like he meant to improve that record.
Despite losing an early break the Scot hit back twice, the decisive break coming at 4-2, to take the lead.
Murray’s hitherto reliable serve deserted him in the second set, however, allowing Federer to level, and the Swiss icon forced further errors in the decider to avenge his defeat to Murray at last year’s event.
World No5 Juan Martin del Potro kept his title hopes alive with a hard-fought win over Spain’s Verdasco in the afternoon Group A match. Verdasco, the world No8, forced a deciding set but the US Open champion kept his nerve to prevail in a tie-break 6-4, 3-6, 7-6 (7-1).
Today’s action in Group B sees Novak Djokovic face Robin Soderling and Rafael Nadal meet Nikolay Davydenko.