Barclays ATP World Tour Finals; Andy Murray wins the opener against Robin Soderling
World number five Andy Murray started off his season finale campaign with a two setter victory over Robin Soderling of Sweden in the first round robin singles clash at the 2010 Barclays ATP World Tour Finals in London on Sunday.
The final match score was 6-2, 6-4 with the battle concluding in a time period of eighty minutes.
The Scott, who is the highest ranked Brit in the South African Airways ATP list, blasted a total of 27 winners and 10 aces for posting his first victory over the Swede since February 2006 at the SAP Open Men’s singles competition
in San Jose.
The 23-year-old Murray as a result of this win has also improved his match record to 6-3 versus the top ten players in 2010.
"I think tactically it was a great match. I think I played very smart tennis today. Off course, it was getting hard in the second set with a lot of lengthy rallies. I was on the defensive quite a lot, however I stuck to my tactics
well and managed to come through,” reflected Murray, who made his debut on the ATP World Tour back in 2005, after clinching win on Sunday.
The London resident who achieved his career high ranking of number two back in 2009 produced a near flawless performance in the opening set clinching a first serve break courtesy of two excellent passing shots during the third
game. He then fired a trademark backhand return down the line to break to 30.
On the slow surface in England, the right hander grew in confidence and blasted a total of fourteen winners to break again for a lead of 5-2. He won the opening set in just twenty nine minutes after converting his second match
point with the help of an outrageous drop shot.
The Glasgow born is recently coming off his quarter final showing at the BNP Paribas Masters Men’s singles tournament in Bercy. After receiving a first round bye, Murray got the better of former world number three David Nalbandian
of Argentine in three sets. The final match score was 2-6, 6-4, 6-3. In the next round, he toppled Marin Cilic before losing at the hands of Gael Monfils of France in three sets. The final score line was 2-6, 6-2, 3-6.
The fourth ranked Soderling, on the other hand, who made his way into the semi final in London back in 2009, bounced back from 0/30 at 1-1, however surrendered his serve during the sixth game of the second set when the Swede smashed
his third double fault of the clash. Murray as a result went on to serve out for his forty fifth victory of the season.
“It was tough today. I was hitting the ball pretty well, but in the beginning I was not there. He played better than me today. He served really well. Maybe that is the only thing I was a little bit surprised with. He was putting
a lot of first serves in. He was defending really well. Every time I came to the net, he came up with a really good shot,” admitted the Swede after his loss on Sunday.
Soderling jumped to a career high ranking of world number four in the South African Airways 2010 ATP Rankings last Monday after capturing the BNP Paribas Men’s singles crown on a quick indoor surface in Bercy.
Murray when asked about the elite eight man field in London added that it is a huge event and all the contenders want to play at their very best which makes it even tougher apart from the fact that all the top eight players on
the tour highlight the tournament.
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