Andy Murray savours win over Martin del Potro at O2
Murray now leads the Argentine 5-1 in career meetings between the two
London: Great Britain's Andy Murray was left savouring his superior tenacity following his 6-3, 3-6, 6-2 win over Argentine's Martin del Potro in their opening Group A match of the Barclays ATP world Tour Finals at the O2 here late on Sunday.
Murray, who captured an ATP World Tour-best of six titles to reach a career-high No.2 ranking this season, now leads the Argentine 5-1 in career meetings between the two.
"It was important to get off to a good start here especially since I have not played too much since the US Open," Murray said.
"I pretty much expected this to be a scrappy match," he added explaining the fluctuation in the scores that saw Del Potro win six of the seven games to fight back in the second set to draw level.
But there was early success for Murray as he kept on pressing Del Potro on the back hand coupled with some topspin returns. The Argentine struggled a bit and that saw the home favourite 5-0 up in no time.
However, the youngest player in the top-10 – and also the tallest - took control of his serve in the sixth and eighth games with a break in-between to claw back to 3-5, but that was as close as he could get as took the first set 6-3.
Standing in Murray's favour were three aces coupled with two double faults and a first serve percentage of 62 to end the first set in a little over 30 minutes.
"It was a bit strange today, and I have no answers to what happened out there," Del Potro shrugged.
Things pretty much turned around in the second set however as Del Potro broke in the second between holding serve for a 3-0 lead.
However, egged on by a vociferous holiday crowd, Murray fought back for a break in the fifth only to see Del Potro break back and then hold for 5-2 and go on to win the set 6-3.
The crowd favourite started well in the decider notching an early break to go 3-0 clear. And the home lad showed a little more aggression as he took the set and match with one final break in the eighth match.
At the end, the match statistics said it all: eight aces and just two double faults compared to the three aces and five double faults from the lanky Argentine.
Result: Andy Murray beats Martin del Potro 6-3, 3-6, 6-2.
ORDER OF PLAY (Monday): 12.30 pm (4.30 pm UAE): Bryan/Bryan vs Mirnyi/Ram; 2.15 pm (6.15 PM uae) Nadal vs Soderling; 7 pm (11 pm UAE) Dlouhy/Paes vs Kubot/Marach; Djokovic vs Davydenko.
