Murray pulls out, Djokovic beats choking Berdych

Andy Murray pulled out of the ATP World Tour Finals today after a 6-4 7-5 loss to David Ferrer in the first match of Group B yesterday.  Murray looked tense from the beginning and his injury became apparent midway through the first set. Murray went up an early break but was pegged back after a succession of loose forehand errors in the fourth game of the match.  Murray did well to hold at 2-3 down in the most entertaining game of the match; he showed his scrambling abilities finishing off what looked like Ferrer's point with a stunning backhand winner.  He also hit a beautifully timed forehand winner before eventually holding that game.  It looked like he might push on from there but he wasted a break point at 4-4 and then lost his serve to hand Ferrer the opening set.  Murray's serving figures were pretty horrendous; he made just 37% of 1st serves, which against someone of Ferrer's returning ability is not good enough.  There were some exciting moments but ultimately the majority of points were being lost rather than won.

Murray pulled out of the ATP World Tour Finals with a recurrence of a groin injury

I didn't watch much of the second set but it was a constantly fluctuating affair.  Murray had a medical time-out at the start of the second set and showed signs of taking the second set going up a break twice however he was pegged back by a consistent Ferrer.  Murray will now be replaced in the tournament by Janko Tipsarevic.  In the other Group B match on Monday, Novak Djokovic saved a match point to beat Tomas Berdych 3-6 6-3 7-6.  This was by far the best match on the first two days and  Berdych was the better player throughout the match, but he choked on the crucial points.  In the third set, Berdych was playing some great tennis from the back of the court and was able to make it count against Djokovic with some timely ventures into the net to finish the points off.  However after getting the break to go up 4-2, he surrendered it in the next game with a number of loose forehands.  Berdych had a match point at 6-5 but rushed another forehand.  The tiebreak saw the Czech player wilt and Djokovic although below his best, took the match.  His amazing record this year had such a big deciding factor in this game as Berdych lacked the belief to beat the Serb.  This group looks wide open now and I still fancy Berdych to have a good chance of qualifying.

Djokovic was well below his best but did enough to beat Berdych