Service failure sees Murray fail to pocket victory over Federer

Published on Wednesday 25 November 2009 00:44

ANDY Murray's hopes of reaching the knockout stages of the Barclays ATP World Finals can no longer be determined by his own actions after he lost in three sets to Roger Federer last night in his second round-robin match.

The Scot lost 6-3, 3-6, 1-6 in a match which had been eagerly awaited but only sporadically lived up to its billing, the result of which means Federer ends the year as world No 1.

Both men displayed no more than flashes of their best form, with Murray's principal problem being his serve – a failing that was particularly glaring in the third set.

"It was a great effort to win a set serving like that," he said. "That's probably the most double faults I've served in a match this year. In the first set at least I was coming up with big serves, but after that I served pants. I just didn't play well. It happens sometimes."

If he beats Fernando Verdasco in his final Group A contest tomorrow, Murray could make it into the weekend's semi-finals (indeed, in certain circumstances he could even lose yet go through), but if Juan Martin del Potro beats Federer qualification may become very complicated.

Three men in the group will then have two wins apiece, with the hapless Verdasco having lost three matches. The two to go through to the semi-finals will then be decided by the percentage of sets won – and if that does not produce two winners it will go down to the percentage of games won.

Murray will play his remaining match tomorrow afternoon, and Federer and Del Potro will meet at night. The world No 4 will, therefore, not know what he will have to do against his Spanish opponent. It is best for him to presume he will need a straight-sets win to go through. "If I win in straight sets, then I think, well, (I have] a great chance that I go through," said Murray. Of course, if Federer beats Del Potro, whom Murray defeated in his own first match, any kind of victory for the Scot will be enough. But it would all have been so much simpler for the British No 1 if, as seemed likely for a time last night, he had got the better of Federer.

In the end, after winning the first set and by no means being out of the contest in the second, Murray went down tamely in the third. If the audience was muted some time before the conclusion, though, the atmosphere earlier on had been the best of the tournament so far.

Andy Roddick, here as a spectator after being ruled out through injury, spoke before the match of how he thought it would go. "I always watch these guys with envy because of what they're able to do with the tennis ball, the way they they're able to control paces, depths, spins," said Roddick, who has signed a new four-year contract with clothing firm Lacoste. "When they go up against each other it's as much of a chess match as anything, because they both have a lot of options to work with."

Roddick's prediction was soon proven correct once the action started, as both men tested out the variety of weapons in their armoury. For a clash between two grand masters, however, there were a few curiously weak gambits in the first few games, with neither player finding a good rhythm.

Murray put himself in trouble with a double fault in the very first game, which he went on to lose, but he broke back straight away thanks to some clever returns. A more predictable pattern then emerged for three games until, serving at 3-2 down, Federer began weakly then gave the game away with an unforced error.

Murray was in trouble in the next game, and double-faulted to 15-40 after a serve was interrupted by a shout from the boisterous crowd. But he got out of that difficulty, and on his next service game closed out the set.

The moment that set was beyond his reach, Federer clicked into a higher gear, and began to play more aggressively as well as intelligently. The Swiss player did not so much as drop a point in his first three service games of the second set, and had Murray's serve under pressure straight away.

The Scot saved a break point in the second game, but was broken in the sixth. The rest of the set was straightforward, so, for a seventh time out of the eight matches held in the tournament so far, we went into a decider.

After the first two games went with serve, Murray was broken in the third and fifth to find himself 4-1 down. There was no complex reason for this sudden slump in his fortunes: he was simply not serving well enough, while Federer was enjoying a consistency which had been beyond him for much of the first set. He saved one match point when serving at 5-1 down, but on the second his serve again let him down.