Federer shatters Murray to advance to the ATP World Tour Finals semi-finals
World Number 2 Roger Federer gave fans something to talk about in his magnificent performance against Britain’s Number 1, Andy Murray. The Maestro battled the World Number 5’s subpar performance to win the match in easy sets, 6-4, 6-2, and in the process
confirmed his place in the semi-finals of the Barclay’s ATP World Tour Finals in London.
The O2 Arena was jam-packed with fans on Tuesday, all of them looking forward to the most highly anticipated match of the prestigious end of year event. Both the top-notch players had exhibited superb skills in their opening Group B matches; however, Roger
Federer was out for blood as revenge for Murray’s humiliating defeat of him at the Shanghai event in October.
Roger Federer, who also scored a victory against Andy Murray at the O2 Arena last year, managed to outshine his 23 year old Scottish opponent from the very beginning of the match. He expressed surprise over his easy victory, stating that he had expected
to play a much more difficult match, with “both hands full”. Commenting on his performance, he said, “I’m happy I’m playing so well, obviously he didn’t have his best match. I played tough and solid from start to finish. That seemed to be enough today.”
He also offered an opinion on why Murray’s form was poor, saying that it might have been the major publicity surrounding the match. He related to the phenomenon, saying, “Sometimes it’s also hard to play a perfect match against each other when there’s such
a huge excitement around it I think. I’ve struggled with it in the past and maybe that’s what happened with Andy today.”
Murray began the match with a dismal start, with Federer breaking him at the first chance he had. He also missed nine of his first ten serves; the Maestro then broke Murray to love in the third game. The Scot player also failed to take advantage of a 0-30
opportunity in his ninth game. Federer, on the other hand, capitalized this chance with his shattering groundstrokes.
Things did not get any better for Andy Murray in the second set. 28 year old Federer, who holds 16 Grand Slam titles, broke his opponent in the first game and held to love in the second one. His serve was precise and solid throughout; the Maestro dropped
only eight points on serve against Murray, who is one of the best returners in the tennis world. Murray was rushed into making errors over and over again, and Federer succeeded on 14 of his total of 17 net points.
Murray, who committed 26 unforced errors, was on the whole unable to deal with Federer’s cutthroat, accurate method of the play. The World Number 2 took away the match with a victory in 75 minutes.
Murray, who only took thirty-two percent of first serves, was understandably dejected with his performace. He said, “I got off to a bad start in both sets. I returned poorly, served poorly. Against him, that’s not going to win you the match.”
Andy Murray failed to put up the same form and performance which had enabled him to defeat World Number Four Robin Soderling on Sunday. He confesses to not feeling comfortable throughout the match, and says that although he tried he failed to play aggressively.
He also appeared resigned to the consequences of this loss, saying, “You’re not going to hit winners every time you go on the court. You’re not going to play your best match every time. You’re going to make a few more mistakes sometimes but last time it worked
well.”
Murray also confessed that he had trouble dealing with his frustrations during a match. He says, “That’s something that I’m trying to work on, to not let my emotions control how I’m playing.”
Tags: