Murray: Tour classics
We revisit British No 1 Andy Murray’s most memorable matches from the ATP World Tour Finals in London
Friday 7 November 2014 12:22, UK
After Andy Murray qualified for his seventh consecutive ATP World Tour Finals we pick out some classic matches from the season-ending tournament involving the Briton.
Murray is back at the season-ending ATP World Tour Finals, but after stumbling at the semi-final stage in 2008 and then again two years later, the Scot will be determined to go one better this time around in London.
The former Wimbledon champion, who missed last year's tournament due to a back injury, appears to be peaking just in time for the Finals, which are held at the magnificent O2 Arena on the banks of the River Thames.
After dropping outside the top 10 following his US Open quarter-final exit, Murray began a late push for a spot in the capital showpiece which features the best eight players this season.
He won titles in Shenzhen, Vienna and Valencia before falling in the last-eight of the ATP Paris Masters to world No 1 Novak Djokovic, but still appears to be in great form heading into this year's event, which runs from 9-16 November.
Here's a look back at some classic matches involving Murray at the season-ending tournament ...
2012 - Group A : Andy Murray beat Tomas Berdych 3-6 6-3 6-4
Just months after winning an Olympic gold medal and a glorious first grand slam title in New York, Murray was hoping to make a triumphant return on home soil in front of his adoring British public. But he faced a daunting opening round-robin clash against the 6ft 5in Czech ace, whom he beat to make the final at Flushing Meadows.
And things didn't get off to the best of starts as the world No 6 used his power game to repel Murray early on with his 140mph serve and caused him a considerable amount of trouble with some ferocious forehands to win the opening set.
But with Ivan Lendl in attendance for the first time since that night across the pond, the Scot picked up his game after Berdych failed to take three more break point chances in the third game of the second set.
Murray finally broke on the 11th break point the Czech had faced and never looked back by closing out the set and the match in the next to make a winning start.
After the match, grand slam winner Murray said: "I thought I did a good job of that today. I tried to move forward and take his time away a little bit. Sometimes when I played him in the past, I would let him dictate a lot of the points. I didn't feel like I did that today."
"I think the biggest moment was in the second set, at 1-1, when I had break point," said Berdych. "I hit a forehand return and it was (just) out. Who knows, it could have been 2-1 with an early break after winning the first set. There was a pretty good chance, but it didn't happen."
2012 - Group A: Novak Djokovic beat Andy Murray 4-6 6-3 7-5
In a mouthwatering rematch of the Olympic semi-final and dramatic five-set US Open final the match was a continuation of a rivalry that had quickly developed into the sport's most compelling that particular year at the summit of the game.
The world No 1 Djokovic exacted his revenge for those losses in three dramatic sets although it was Murray who made an electric start by dropping just three points on his own serve in a near-perfect opening set.
He was denied a break early in the next after a blunderbuss drive-volley from the Serb which landed slap bang in the corner. The moment shook his opponent and from then on it was Djokovic who seemingly wanted it more in a see-saw encounter.
The third set was tight, but it was the Serb who took his chances to win in just over two-and-a-half hours. Although the clash had not quite reached the heights of their semi-final at Melbourne, then in the final in New York, the capacity crowd still got whole-heartedly involved.
"The intensity of my matches with Novak have been extremely high this year," Murray said. "I think both of us have seen things in each other's games improve. That's why there's a lot of long rallies, and the matches are incredibly tight."
Djokovic, who took a 10-7 overall lead against Murray and 4-3 in his favour for the year, said: "Of course it's special. We know each other so well. The friendship goes back a long time, since we were 11 years old and more or less we developed into professional tennis players at the same time. Hopefully this rivalry will evolve and we can have many more great matches on the Tour."
2010 - Semi-final: Rafael Nadal beat Andy Murray 7-6 (7-5) 3-6 7-6 (8-6)
This was arguably one of the best matches to be played at the season-ending event in recent years with the standard of tennis hitting epic proportions after three hours and 11 minutes of gobsmacking drama.
In the 13th meeting between Nadal and Murray the first set flowed beautifully and was deservedly settled in a tie-break which the man from Mallorca won. Nadal then suffered a lapse in concentration midway through the second set which Murray capitalised on for the first break of the match and a 4-3 lead.
He then broke again to take the match into a decider. Murray stayed strong and took it to another breaker where he moved to within two points of winning. But Nadal dug deep to rally and seal a dramatic win.
"It was a great match," Murray said. "Today is why I play tennis. I probably played one bad game the whole match, or maybe just a couple of bad points. Whether it's the best match I played and lost, I don't know. I was very disappointed with the way I played against Roger (Federer). The match today is how I want to play all the time."
Victory helped world No 1 Nadal improve his head-to-head record over Murray to 9-4. "Today I played one of the finest matches of my career," said the Spaniard. "I want to congratulate Andy for his attitude - he's going to win a lot of grand slams in my opinion."
2009 - Group A: Andy Murray beat Fernando Verdasco 6-4 6-7 (4-7) 7-6 (7-3)
Murray went into this crucial encounter against the left-hander from Spain knowing that he had to record a straight-sets win to keep his hopes alive of progressing through to the semi-finals. However, things were never going to be easy against the player who sent him crashing out of in the fourth round of the Australian Open earlier in the year.
Aside from the defeat in Melbourne, Murray had beaten Verdasco in the seven other previous meetings between the pair so he was favourite to win it. Following a nervy opening from both players, Murray took his opportunity in the 10th game of the first set to break Verdasco.
The next went into a tie-break and at 7-4, a crucial double-fault from Murray handed the Spaniard the set. The match was decided by another breaker, but this time Murray was the more aggressive player, dominating from the baseline to take it.
He then faced an anxious wait to see if he progressed, but when Roger Federer failed to win the four games required in his final set decider against Juan Martin del Potro, Murray's fate was decided and it was the Swiss maestro who progressed along with the Argentine to the disappointment of Murray's ardent supporters.
2008 Tennis Masters Cup - Red Group: Andy Murray beat Roger Federer 4-6 7-6 (7-3) 7-5
Murray took on Federer in a match to decide the final standings having already qualified for the semi-finals of the competition. This proved to be a breakthrough year for the Briton who became only the third player to defeat the 13-times grand slam champion three times in the same year.
After the Swiss star won the opening set Murray was quick to get off the mark in the second with two breaks of serve to race to a 5–2 second set lead. But Federer hit back by winning four games in a row and force a tie-breaker which Murray eventually won 7-3.
Federer, who was forced out of the Paris Masters due to a back injury, called for the trainer in the decider and Murray took full advantage by winning the first three games.
But Federer wasn't giving up that easily as he won four straight games. Back came Murray in a battle which had plenty of twists and turns showing a combination of character and stamina as well as brilliant shot-making to turn it around.
His opponent was forced to save seven match points before eventually succumbing in a remarkably dramatic encounter which lasted just over three hours. "Psychologically this win is going to be huge for me when we meet again," said Murray who won their next two meetings in Doha and Indian Wells.
