Roger Federer defeated Andy Murray in the semi-finals of the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals on Sunday evening at The O2 arena.
The Swiss world No.2 defeated Murray 7-6(5), 6-2 in one hour and 33 minutes to set up a meeting with Serbia’s world No.1 Novak Djokovic in Monday’s Final.
“I would have liked to have finished, obviously, with a win” said Murray after the match. “But for me, it's been the best year of my career by a mile."
Murray, who won an Olympic gold and his first grand slam title at the US Open earlier in the year, applied the pressure from the first point of the match to break the Swiss player who struggled to find his forehand.
Both players continued to hold serve until the eighth game where Federer set up a break point of his own after Murray pushed his backhand long. The 31 year-old then converted the break after a netted forehand from the British No.1.
Both players then held serve to take the match into a tie-break. The breaker saw some tight points with both players earning a mini break, however it was Federer who edged ahead taking the set 7-6(5) after Murray dropped his backhand into the net.
The second set saw Federer carry on his winning momentum as he broke the world No.3 in the third game from 0-40 down.
“Once he gets ahead, he's incredibly hard to stop.” Murray commented. “He tends to play better and better when he gets up. I feel like I gave him that advantage the beginning of the second set.”
Federer then broke Murray for the second time in the set with a blinding backhand passing shot to go 5-2 up.
In the final game Federer mixed up play by serve-volleying and then sealed his place in the final with a winning forehand down the line.
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