Murray and Federer enjoy winning starts at O2
BRITAIN’S Andy Murray hailed his tactics after beating US Open champion Juan Martin del Potro in the opening match of the ATP World Tour Finals.
The world No4 came through 6-3, 3-6, 6-2 in front of 17,000 fans at London’s O2 Arena to make the ideal start in Group A of the eight-man tournament.
The 22-year-old Scot used his defensive skills to counter Del Potro’s aggressive baseline play and afterwards he admitted he was relieved to get past his 6ft 6in opponent.
“He’s got a big serve, long reach, goes for huge shots. You just have to try and find a way through that. Tactically I’ve always been quite good so I found a way through it,” he said.
“The start of the match was important. Me and Juan haven’t played that much since the US Open and I kind of expected a scrappy match.”
Murray went into the match with a 4-1 career record against the Argentine and he raced into a 5-0 lead before taking the first set.
But Del Potro picked his level up in the second with some blistering forehands to take the match into a deciding set.
However Murray saved his best serving for the third set and never looked in danger after breaking to go 3-0 up, and duly completed his victory in two hours and 10 minutes.
Murray’s winning start was equalled by Roger Federer, but only after the world No1 battled back from a set down to beat Spain’s Fernando Verdasco 4-6, 7-5, 6-1 in the evening clash in Group A.
Federer made the worst possible opening, being broken to love in the match’s very first game, and failed to recover in time to save the set. But the Swiss 15-time Grand Slam winner turned the contest around, finally breaking Verdasco in the last game of the second set to level.
From there the momentum swung dramatically in Federer’s favour, and he saw off his opponent with the minimum of fuss.
His victory put him joint top of the group with Murray and sets up a mouth-watering and potentially decisive clash with the home favourite tomorrow.