Federer in imperious form as Murray is crushed

Hopes were high the Scot could make it three wins in a row against the world No 2 following his thumping victory over Robin Soderling in the opening round-robin match at the O2 Arena.

But that optimism swiftly disappeared as an imperious Federer swept aside his rival to win 6-4 6-2 in only an hour and 17 minutes.

The statistics made difficult reading for Murray, who won only eight points on Federer's serve, did not earn a single break point and succeeded in getting his first serve in only 44 per cent of the time.

The 23-year-old said: "I got off to a bad start in both sets, which doesn't help. I returned poorly, served poorly. Against him, that's not going to win you the match.

"I felt okay from the back of the court, not unbelievable, but there were quite a few good rallies. Normally I get myself into a lot more of them against him."

Murray carried a lot of confidence into the match, with the memories of his victories over Federer in Masters Series finals in Toronto and Shanghai still fresh while his performance against Soderling on Sunday, particularly in the first set, had been exemplary.

It quickly became clear this was not going to be one of his good days, though, as, after saving a break point in the first game, he was promptly broken to love in his next service game.

Murray's poor serving was a feature of the match but so were his uncharacteristic struggles on return, usually one of the strongest parts of his game.

Federer lost only three points on serve in taking the first set and at the start of the second things got even worse for Murray.

A lengthy first service game ended with Federer seizing an immediate advantage and, when the world No 2 floated a backhand return down the line for a second successive break, the match was all but over.

Murray, who will almost certainly need to beat David Ferrer on Thursday to stand any chance of reaching the semi-finals, at least avoided a dreaded bagel with two gutsy holds but it was all too little, too late.

The world No 5 had vowed to take the game to his opponent, and he insisted it was not his gameplan that was flawed but his execution of it.

"I didn't feel tight," he continued. "I tried to play quite aggressive. You're not going to hit winners every single time you go on the court. You're not going to play your best match every time. You're going to make a few more mistakes sometimes.

"Last time I played against him, it worked well. Today I made more mistakes than normal. When I went behind, I didn't put many returns in the court, I didn't put any pressure on his game. Therefore, the pressure obviously builds more onto you."

Federer, who is bidding for a fifth World Tour Finals title, admitted he had not expected to win so comfortably against an opponent who has caused him considerable problems in the past.

The 29-year-old said: "I'm surprised, I really am, that I was able to win my service games that comfortably.

"I heard I dropped eight points on my serve. That's not the norm against Andy, who is one of the best return players – if not the best – in the game right now.

"I don't think he played his best match. He came out and made some mistakes. Maybe it was due to my good play. From my side, I was obviously very happy. It was a good match. I played tough and solid from start to finish. That seemed to be enough today."

But it's still all to play for in Group B after Soderling's 7-5 7-5 victory over Ferrer later on last night ensured all four players could still qualify for the semi-finals.

The result was in many ways more interesting than the match, and the straight-sets scoreline means both that Federer will have to wait to reach the semi-finals and that the two qualifiers will not be confirmed until after the final match in the group tomorrow.

Any other result would have put Federer through following his win over Murray and the scenario means there could be a repeat of last year's drama, which saw the British No 1 eliminated by one game.

On that occasion, Juan Martin Del Potro was left on court for a number of minutes not knowing whether he had qualified or not and, although tournament organisers promised that would never happen again, they must have been hoping for a different outcome last night.

Soderling looked the more likely winner from the start, with his power game troubling Ferrer. He missed out on break point opportunities midway through the first set but took his chance with the Spaniard serving to stay in contention at 5-6.

Ferrer saved three set points but on the fourth a superb forehand pass from Soderling proved just too good.

After suffering at the hands of Murray, the world No 4 was much more on his game last night, and took control of the match with a break to lead 4-2 in the second set.

There was a late twist when Ferrer broke back with Soderling serving for the match but he then failed to hold his own serve to give the Swede victory.