Murray Downs Ferrer in London Opener

November 16, 2015 | By New York Tennis Magazine Staff
Murray_Crop_02_5
Photo credit: Lee Seidner

Andy Murray won his opening round-robin match at the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals on Monday, defeating Spaniard David Ferrer 6-4, 6-4 in an Ilie Nastase Group matchup.

Murray had multiple opportunities to break Ferrer early in the opening set, but failed to capitalize on three chances in the eighth game. But in Ferrer’s following service game, Murray finally came through with a break at 5-4 to wrap up the 47 minute first set.

The feisty Ferrer answered right back in the second set, though, breaking Murray and consolidating it with a hold to build a 2-0 advantage.

But Murray worked his way back into it by breaking Ferrer, and one more break later in the set allowed to close this match out in straight sets 6-4, 6-4.

“I served bad at the end of the first set and also in the second set,” said Ferrer afterwards. “When the serve doesn’t work against top 10 players, it’s difficult to win. In important moments, he was better than me.”

Murray is now one win away from clinching the year-end world number two rankings.

“It was a tough match with a lot of long rallies,” said Murray. “He fought hard right to the end and made it extremely difficult. He didn’t serve as well as he can and I played a bit better at the end of both sets, and that got me the win.”

Rafael Nadal and Stan Wawrinka will meet later today as the two of them begin their ATP World Tour Finals campaigns.

On Sunday, Novak Djokovic beat Kei Nishikori 6-1, 6-1 and Roger Federer beat Tomas Berdych 6-4, 6-2 in the tournament’s first two matches. 


New York Tennis Magazine Staff
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