LONDON, (Reuters) – Given the chance to put another dent in Roger Federer’s armour yesterday, Andy Murray was swatted aside as their top-billing round robin clash at the ATP World Tour Finals turned into a romp for the majestic Swiss.
Federer often struggles against the mercurial Scot, except when it really matters, most notably in their two grand slam finals, but he was supreme at the soaring O2 Arena, dropping just eight points on serve in a 6-4 6-2 drubbing.
In bagging a second easy win, the 29-year-old former world number one is favourite to reach the semi-finals although he will still need to beat Robin Soderling on Thursday make 100 percent sure and avoid the need of a calculator.
Swede Soderling recovered from a Sunday drubbing by Murray to beat Spanish terrier David Ferrer 7-5 7-5, meaning the top two spots in Group B will be decided tomorrow.
“You can go a bit crazy (thinking) about it, no doubt about that,” Federer, who scraped into last year’s semi-finals via some head-spinning arithmetic, told reporters.
Should he repeat the form he showed yesterday, Federer, who is eyeing a record-equalling fifth title at the season-ending showdown, should keep things under his control.
“I think if you play many times against each other, you can’t go the distance every single time,” he told reporters after improving his career record against home favourite Murray to six wins in 14 meetings.
“Maybe he’ll just need a feel good talk or just a nice dinner. That should do the trick,” Federer added when asked how he felt Murray would respond to a chastening 76-minute loss in front of 17,000 fans. “It’s pretty straightforward. I think he’s going to come back and play a real good match next.”
Maybe a chat with former Argentine soccer great Diego Maradona, again a spectator at the O2, would enliven the Scot who produced a performance barely recognisable from the one which humbled Federer in last month’s Shanghai Masters final.
Federer was clearly expecting a much harder shift.
“I’m surprised I was able to beat Andy here because playing him in London should be really tough,” Federer said. I was just surprised the amount of errors he was making early on.”
