World No. 1 Novak Djokovic clawed his way to victory over Tomas Berdych in his opening match at the ATP World Tour Finals on Monday, but Andy Murray’s prospects look bleak after a groin injury flared up in his shock defeat by David Ferrer.
Djokovic, who arrived in London with question marks over his right shoulder, showed all the qualities that have made him the year’s dominant force, digging himself out of trouble to win 3-6, 6-3, 7-6 (7/3) after saving a match point deep in the decider.
Murray, the form player in the world since the US Open, was tipped by many to win the title in London, but after a 6-4, 7-5 defeat to bustling Spaniard Ferrer he faces an uphill battle to reach the semi-finals, even if he can continue.
Photo: EPA
The 24-year-old Briton said he was “gutted” after the injury he sustained while practicing for the season-ender hindered him during an error-strewn two-hour defeat.
“Yeah, I mean, I had a problem with my groin. I have to see how it goes for tomorrow,” Murray, who had never lost to Ferrer on any other surface than the Spaniard’s favorite clay, told reporters. “I’ll decide tomorrow whether or not I keep playing. If it wasn’t slams or this event, I wouldn’t have played.”
While the atmosphere in the O2 was a little flat as Murray labored, it was electrifying in the night session as 17,500 fans, many waving Serbian and Czech flags, crammed into the huge arena that will stage the event until 2013.
After losing the opening four games, Djokovic gradually found his range, although he still had to recover from 4-2 down in the decider before Berdych finally ran out of firepower.
“That was the toughest match since the US Open,” Djokovic, who won three of the year’s majors and grabbed the No. 1 ranking from Rafael Nadal, told reporters. “I wasn’t very satisfied with my performance, but a win is a win.”
Despite having blue tape plastered over his shoulder, Djokovic said he had suffered no recurrence of the injury that forced him to withdraw from the Paris Masters earlier this month.
“Something I’m happy about is my condition,” he said. “I haven’t felt any pain in my shoulder. I’m exhausted because it was three hours, but I feel physically fit.”
After leveling the match with consecutive aces at the end of the second set, Djokovic found himself in trouble again in the third against the raw power of Berdych.
However, the Czech’s tendency to crack at key moments returned to haunt him. He let Djokovic off after forging a 4-2 lead and then when a Djokovic double fault presented him with a match point at 5-6 he buried a forehand into the net.
Another slew of Berdych forehand errors in the tiebreak, one of them worthy of a park hacker, gave Djokovic breathing space and he sealed victory after 2 hours, 38 minutes.
It would have been scant consolation for Berdych, but the quality on display in the evening was far superior to that served up by Murray and Ferrer.
Murray led in both sets, but never looked comfortable despite winning all five of his previous hard-court clashes with the 29-year-old baseline slugger.
The Scot made 44 unforced errors as he attempted to break down Ferrer’s formidable defenses and he needed treatment at the end of the first set.
Murray briefly appeared to have got back on track when he broke to lead 2-0 in the second set and again to move 4-3 ahead, but it proved a false dawn as the mistakes returned.
At 5-6, Ferrer reached match point with a nervy forehand volley which clipped the line and he converted at the first attempt, punishing his opponent for an ill-advised drop shot.
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
Rafael Nadal on Wednesday said the upcoming French Open would be the moment to “give everything and die” on the court after his comeback from injury in Barcelona was curtailed by Alex de Minaur. The 22-time Grand Slam title winner, back playing this week after three months on the sidelines, battled well, but eventually crumbled 7-5, 6-1 against the world No. 11 from Australia in the second round. Nadal, 37, who missed virtually all of last season, is hoping to compete at the French Open next month where he is the record 14-time champion. The Spaniard said the clash with De Minaur was
RALLY: It was only the second time the Taiwanese has partnered with Kudermetova, and the match seemed tight until they won seven points in a row to take the last set 10-2 Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and Russia’s Veronika Kudermetova on Sunday won the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix women’s doubles final in Stuttgart, Germany. The pair defeated Norway’s Ulrikke Eikeri and Estonia’s Ingrid Neel 4-6, 6-3, 10-2 in a tightly contested match at the WTA 500 tournament. Chan and Kudermetova fell 4-6 in the first set after having their serve broken three times, although they played increasingly well. They fought back in the second set and managed to break their opponents’ serve in the eighth game to triumph 6-3. In the tiebreaker, Chan and Kudermetova took a 3-0 lead before their opponents clawed back two points, but