Sport | Tennis
Murray hopes to make it to the top
Crosses first hurdle by beating del Potro
- By Alaric Gomes, Senior Reporter
- Published: 00:00 November 24, 2009
- Andy Murray
- Image Credit: Reuters
London: Great Britain's Andy Murray is relieved at having the right sort of testing start to his campaign at this week's year-ending Barclays ATP World Tour Finals on Sunday.
Playing against Argentinian Juan Martin del Potro, Murray started off well winning the first set 6-3 before allowing his opponent to take the second and then wrapping up the third in a hurry to win 6-3, 3-6, 6-2 in a little over two hours of action here on Sunday.
And now with one hurdle out of the way, he reckons the others are going to be equally tough. "I think they are all going to be difficult. [Robin] Soderling is one of the best indoor players in the world and his record would suggest that. So that's going to be a very tough match. Rafa [Nadal] too.
"And then, [Nikolay] Davydenko and [Novak] Djokovic played in the finals last year in Shanghai. Davydenko is a very good indoor player and Djokovic has a lot of confidence as he's won three of his last four tournaments since the US Open. They will all be difficult," Murray stated.
"And then Verdasco is very, very dangerous," he added. And further down, there are the top two — Federer and Nadal. "All of them, whether it is Roger, Rafa or Novak, can go on streaks where they play great," Murray said.
Pitted in Group A alongside Federer, Del Potro and Verdasco, the Briton has to win just one more match in the round-robin phase to advance to the knockout semifinals. "You've got to pretty much win two matches out of the three [in the round-robin stages] to give yourself a chance. You know, I could still win two and not go through. So the focus at the moment is to try and get the next one out of the way. If I can win that one, then I put myself in a good position [to make it through to the semifinals]," Murray stated.
However the good news for the highest ranked Briton ever is that he finds his game falling in place. "I was happy with a lot of parts of my game. In the end I think I've had a good start and obviously I am happy to have a win to start off," he said.
And just like scaling the rooftop of The O2 Arena to take in London following last week's draw ceremony, Murray hopes he can one day make it to the top of the rankings. "Obviously I'd like to try to get to No 1 in the world, as would all of the players I think," he quipped.
Results
Singles (round robin): Group A: 1-Roger Federer (Switzerland) beat 7-Fernando Verdasco (Spain) 4-6 7-5 6-1; 4-Andy Murray (Britain) beat 5-Juan Martin Del Potro (Argentina) 6-3 3-6 6-2.
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