Murray - A really good start

Andy Murray was delighted to make a successful start to his ATP World Tour Finals campaign with a hard-fought victory over Juan Martin del Potro.

The British number one, playing in the first match of the eight-man event at London's O2 Arena, defeated the US Open champion 6-3 3-6 6-2.

In front of a partisan crowd, the Scot raced out of the blocks before raising his game again to come out on top in a deciding set.

The world number three now knows a win against either Fernando Verdasco or Roger Federer in his remaining Group A matches should book him a place in the semi-finals of the tournament for a second successive year.

Good start

"It was a really good start," said the 22-year-old, who has now beaten del Potro in five of their six meetings.

"The start of the match was important. Me and Juan haven't played that much since the US Open so I kind of expected a little bit of a scrappy match maybe.

"He didn't start particularly well but after 5-0 I thought the standard was very good. We played some great points.

"Obviously I'm happy I managed to come back in the third because he was playing well."

Del Potro, who admitted afterwards that he always expected the contest to go the distance, felt luck was on his opponent's side.

The Argentinean, who took a medical time-out to get attention for a nosebleed after the third game, struggled with unforced errors, including two double faults that gifted Murray the chance to clinch the match.

"Against Andy, always the match is very tough," he said afterwards. "We play three sets in every tournament, every match.

"Today was a little strange but he played great tennis in the third set. He was a little lucky but you need the luck to win. And today it was with him."