Murray vows to respond to early setback

The Scot’s hopes of progressing to the semi-finals were dealt a serious but not quite terminal blow on the first day of play at the O2 Arena with a 6-4 6-4 loss to debutant Kei Nishikori.

Roger Federer completed the opening matches in Group B with a 6-1 7-6 (7/0) victory over Raonic to set up a match with Nishikori this afternoon.

The glimmer of light for Murray was that Raonic also failed to win a set, and a straight-sets victory in their match would at least give the British No 1 a fighting chance.

He would still probably need to beat Federer to progress, but Murray certainly is not giving up just yet.

“It’s harder to qualify when you lose your first match, that’s pretty obvious,” he said.

“But, unlike the other events, you still have a chance to go through. If this were anywhere else, I would be out of the tournament. I need to try to forget about Sunday, work on some things, and hopefully play better.”

Murray played six weeks in a row, winning three tournaments, to book his spot at the eight-man event in London, but there was no sign of that form in a passive and disappointing performance.

It was not hard to find the weak spot in the former Wimbledon champion’s game, Murray winning only 26 per cent of points on his second serve.