World Tour Finals – Day 2

Group A – first round
(5)David Ferrer d. (3)Andy Murray         6-4, 7-5                 [ 2:00 h ]
The Spaniard drew conclusions of four consecutive defeats to Andy Murray in the last twelve months and played his best tennis in terms of aggressiveness, especially his cross-court backhand was working exceptionally well. Besides that, he showed mental resistance winning crucial points at the end of sets (needed six deuces to win the last two games of the 1st set). Murray led with a break in both sets, in the 2nd set even twice: 2:0* (deuce) and *4:3 (40-30). When everyone would have expected a tie-break, in the 12th game the Scot leading 30-15 made a fatal backhand volley error. ‘Pics’ won the next two points at the net, he was lucky at ’30 all’ because his forehand volley from a comfortable position hit the sideline. Murray had some problems with his left groin (injury time-out between the sets), in the 1st set notched an abysmal 37% of 1st serves in. “I’m very happy,” said Ferrer. “I beat Andy, in London, in his home. It is not easy. I played very consistent all the match. Maybe the first set I played better than the second, [because] in the second [set], sometimes I was a little bit nervous.”
(1)Novak Djokovic d. (7)Tomas Berdych    3-6, 6-3, 7-6(3)      [ 2:38 h ]
The beginning of the match was shocking – Berdych led 4:0 against a player, who won so many sets  6-0 or 6-1 this year. On the other hand, Djokovic lost his charm in Autumn, which was confirmed during his last two – barely decent – tournaments in Basel and Paris. The world’s number 1 managed to back into the match though, and had three break points to erase a double break deficit in the 7th game. Berdych was a dominant figure in the 3rd set, on three different occasions would have seen himself as a winner: led *4:2, 5:4* (30-15) & 6:5 (40-30). On the match point his favorite shot (forehand down the line) let him down, and completely disappeared in the deciding tie-break – produced four mistakes from that side, at *1:3 from the easiest possible position standing at the net with Djokovic running in a wrong direction… The Serb converted his first match point with a service winner and broke a 5-tie-break losing streak (the Czech began the tie-break having won the last six). “It was the toughest match probably since the US Open. I knew that my opponent tonight is an unpredictable player, who has a powerful groundstrokes and great serve. If he’s on, if he feels the ball well, it’s difficult to compete with him.” analyzed Djokovic, for whom it’s the eight m.p. down win at the main level # I’m glad after first two days given singles and doubles, eight matches have been played, only two straight setters, two finished in a deciding tie-break, would have been more interesting if the underdogs (Berdych, Fish) hadn’t choked at the final stage 😉
Doubles results:
(6)R.Lindstedt/H.Tecau d. (4)M.Bhupathi/L.Paes 7-6(6), 6-1
(1)B.Bryan/M.Bryan d. (7)J.Melzer/P.Petzschner 6-7(4), 7-5, [10-7] – 1 m.p.
# Djokovic’s m.p. wins:
Wimbledon 2005: G.Garcia-Lopez 3-6, 3-6, 7-6(5), 7-6(3), 6-4 – 3 mp
Vienna 2007: JI.Chela 6-3, 5-7, 7-6(2) – 2 mp
Halle 2009: F.Serra 5-7, 7-5, 6-1 – 5 mp
Basel 2009: R.Stepanek 6-7(4), 7-5, 6-2 – 3 mp
Indian Wells 2010: P.Kohlschreiber 6-3, 2-6, 7-6(3) – 3 mp
US Open 2010: R.Federer 5-7, 6-1, 5-7, 6-2, 7-5 – 2 mp
US Open 2011: R.Federer 6-7(7), 4-6, 6-3, 6-2, 7-5 – 2 mp
London 2011: T.Berdych 3-6, 6-3, 7-6(3) – 1 mp
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