Andy Murray wary of meeting Roger Federer in peak form

AT THE end of the most up-and-down season in Andy Murray's career, it is perhaps not surprising that he is playing down his chances of beating a player to whom he has not lost a set since January.

Murray faces Roger Federer this afternoon in his second round-robin Group B match at the Barclays ATP World Tour Fin-als in London, which burst into life last night when Rafael Nadal overcame Andy Roddick 3-6, 7-6 (7-5), 6-4 in the match of the tournament so far.

Murray and Federer's rivalry stretches back five years to the Scot's first appearance in an ATP Tour final in Bangkok. The Scot can boast an 8-5 winning record over that time but the bigger the occasion, the more Federer rises to it.

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Murray's two grand slam finals, in America in 2008 and Australia this year, have been chastening experiences while the pair's meeting at the same stage of last year's tournament at the O2 Arena also went the way of the Swiss. Recent results have been more encouraging, with Murray claiming straight-sets wins over Federer in Masters Series finals in Toronto and Shanghai.

The 23-year-old said: "Every time you play against him it's tough. It's obviously good to win against him. But in tennis every match is completely different. It's a new day.''

Murray could not have had a better start to his campaign at the end-of-season eight-man event as he raced to a 6-2, 6-4 victory over Robin Soderling, who was the form player going into the tournament and last week overtook Murray to become the new world No 4. After a sublime first set, the Scot relied more on his renowned defensive skills.

Critics of Murray tend to focus on his perceived reluctance to take the initiative in points but he insisted it is a case of having a gameplan to suit every occasion.

"When I played Roger and Rafa (Nadal) the last few times, I played very aggressive tennis," he said. "That's what you need to do against them. Against some guys, you need to defend more."

Murray's win, coupled with Federer's 6-1, 6-4 victory over David Ferrer in the other Group B clash, have made the pair fav-ourites to reach the last four.

Prior to Nadal's win over Roddick, Serbia's Novak Djokovic turned on the style yesterday afternoon in front of Argentine football great Diego Maradona with a 6-3, 6-3 win over Czech Tomas Berdych.

Djokovic, who looked in fine form as next week's Davis Cup final approaches, later explained the Maradona connection.

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"Well, he loves tennis," Djokovic said. "One of the Argentine journalists told me he likes watching me play. So I sent him a shirt and racket. He got me a jersey in return with a signature.''

There was more celebrity interest in the stands later as pop star Kylie Minogue saw Nadal shrug off early rustiness to record his first victory at the O2 Arena.The world No 1 had not played for five weeks and it showed early on in his Group A encounter with Roddick, but Nadal recovered impressively to record a 3-6, 7-6 (7/5) 6-4 victory.

After three one-sided matches, it was just what the tournament needed, and the Spaniard was happy to oblige.

"Finally I won a match," he said.

The London tournament was not a happy experience for Nadal last year as, after a season dogged by injury, he failed to win a set in his three round-robin matches.