Andy Murray races into ATP World Tour Finals semi-finals with a superb win over David Ferrer
Britain’s Number 1 player Andy Murray scored an impressive victory against Spanish opponent David Ferrer yesterday, making it to the last four of the prestigious end of year Barclay’s ATP World Tour Finals.
The event’s fifth seed defeated Ferrer, who is World Number 7, in a straight sets match with a final score line of 6-2, 6-2. His match, which was the last of the Group B round robin matches, has guaranteed him a spot in the semi-finals of the event. He will
most likely face World Number 1 Rafael Nadal on Saturday in the event’s semi final.
The World Number 5 only needed one set in order to have guaranteed qualification in the semi-finals. This was because he managed a two sets to love victory in his first round robin match, where he defeated Swede player Robin Soderling.
It was obvious that he was aware of this position, when he took the first set, he responded to the home crowd’s joyful shrieks with a loud shout of obvious delight at the O2 Arena in London.
Despite losing the first two games of his match, he came raging back into the final with impressive resolve and won the match with aplomb and class. Despite being broken early in the second, he recovered almost instantaneously to take away the match. Just
two sets of his usual brilliant A-game were enough to wave off his Spanish opponent without much ado.
Ferrer was in fact, not too difficult to overpower for the British Number 1. Murray took away seven games in quick succession to lift the opening set for himself, and this performance was repeated in the second set.
On the other hand, Ferrer had a difficult time with the Scotsman. He could only take away four games during the match. The duration of the players’ third and last round robin match was one hour and nine minutes.
The 6-2, 6-2 score line does not betray Andy Murray’s initial tentativeness and his less than spectacular initiative at the beginning of the match. For a small period of time, it seemed as if Murray might be setting himself up for a defeat similar to the
one suffered against Roger Federer on Tuesday, in a match which bitterly disappointed both him and his supporters.
However, the fifth seed broke into stride after the first two games, going on to win the match. He had only to win one set, and while that seemed out of reach in the first two games he quickly redeemed himself by restoring his usual power and ability into
the game to produce wonderful shots.
Federer’s third round robin defeat of Robin Soderling in straight sets only ensured that Murray was guaranteed a place in the semis, where he is almost certain to play Rafael Nadal. If he wants a home final against the World Number 1, he will have to exercise
both mental and physical strength to exhibit the same strategy and power hitting which makes him such a formidable foe.
Meanwhile, Rafa will play Tomas Berdych later today, and Novak Djokovic will be competing against Andy Roddick in the final Group A matches. In order to stand a chance of progress, Berdych will need a set against Nadal, or a straight-sets Roddick victory
against Djokovic.
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