Murray makes perfect start

Andy Murray made a perfect start to his bid to win the ATP World Tour Finals for the first time with a 6-2, 6-4 victory over Sweden’s Robin Soderling yesterday.

Murray was in fine form as he opened the annual end-of-season event, featuring the world’s top eight players, with the kind of dominant display that hinted the British number one is capable of providing a home winner for the fans at London’s O2 Arena.

Soderling, seeded fourth, has had an impressive year, but fifth seed Murray was at his imperious best as he dismissed him in one hour and 20 minutes.

“Tactically it was a great match,” Murray said. “I played very smart tennis and even when it was getting tough in the second set and I was on the defensive quite a lot, I stuck to my tactics and managed to come through.

“Robin is a great player. Most of his tournament wins have come indoors. So to win with that score line is obviously great.”

Soderling added: “I didn’t start off very well. The first set was not very good. I wasn’t really there.

“The second set was better and I felt I had him on the run a lot of times. But every time I came in at the net, he came up with a really good shot. So he was just too good.”

Murray had the perfect motivation against Soderling as the Swede had replaced him as the world number four after winning the Paris Masters.

Murray’s slump out of the top four after almost two years in that elite group was the result of an inconsistent season which raised fresh doubts about his ability to end his long wait to win a Grand Slam.