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ATP World Tour Finals: Andy Murray wants to 'finish year on a high'

  • Posted: Nov 13, 2016

Andy Murray will hope to tighten his grip on the world number one ranking when he plays Marin Cilic at the ATP World Tour Finals on Monday.

The Briton, 29, will end the year at the top of the rankings if he wins the title at London’s O2 Arena.

Murray faces Croatia’s Cilic in his opening round-robin match at approximately 20:00 GMT.

“I just want to finish the year on a high note by playing well,” the Scot told BBC Sport.

“If I finish number one, that’s great, but that wasn’t a goal of mine a few months ago. I wanted to put myself in a position to hopefully get there at the beginning part of next year.”

  • Jamie Murray and Soares win doubles opener

Switzerland’s Stan Wawrinka plays Kei Nishikori of Japan in Monday’s first singles match at 14:00, live on BBC Two and the BBC Sport website.

Murray overtook Novak Djokovic at the top of the rankings last week and is locked in a battle with the Serb to see which of them ends the year as world number one.

Djokovic opened with a three-set win over Dominic Thiem on Sunday, and knows that two group-stage wins followed by a record sixth ATP Finals title would see him reclaim top spot.

However, Murray can deny Djokovic if the Scot wins the season finale for the first time.

“He said that it wasn’t a focus to be world number one this year,” said BBC Sport commentator Andrew Castle.

“But with the Wimbledon title and Olympic gold behind him, he perhaps reset himself after the US Open and just said, ‘It’s available and I’m going to go for it.’

“He basically won every single match for the last six weeks.”

‘Faster courts will mean shorter points’

By his own standards, Murray has a relatively mediocre 11-11 record in eight previous appearances at the ATP finale, but he arrives this year in as strong a position as ever.

He is on a 19-match winning streak, and took three days off following his Paris Masters win before practising on the newly speeded up O2 Arena last week.

“The court’s definitely a bit faster than it has been in the past, so that changes the way you play the matches a little bit,” said Murray.

“But I think that’s a positive thing. At the end of the year, when the players have played a lot of tennis, to play on the slowest court with really, really long rallies is tough, so it will shorten the points a bit and maybe make for some better tennis.”

Murray has enjoyed the best season of his career, but if he is to hold on to the number one spot he must come through the most difficult run of matches he has faced in terms of rankings.

The Briton will play world number three Wawrinka, number five Nishikori and number seven Cilic in the John McEnroe Group, with only two progressing to the semi-finals.

First up is Cilic, who beat Murray last time out in Cincinnati three months ago but has won just three of their 14 matches.

“He’s been on an amazing run these last few weeks, he’s going to be extremely motivated and he’s going to have the crowd on his side,” said Cilic.

“I just hope I’m going to continue with this good form I had the last few months.”

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Czech Republic win third Fed Cup in a row

  • Posted: Nov 13, 2016

The Czech Republic won the Fed Cup for the third time in as many years with a 3-2 victory over France in Strasbourg.

Resuming at 1-1 in the best-of-five tie, France’s world number 23 Caroline Garcia beat world number six Karolina Pliskova 6-3 3-6 6-3.

Barbora Strycova levelled by beating Alize Cornet 6-2 7-6 (7-4), setting up a decisive doubles match.

Pliskova and Strycova beat Garcia and Kiki Mladenovic 7-5 7-5 to wrap up the Czechs’ fifth title in six years.

They have now won the Fed Cup 10 times, five of which were as Czechoslovakia.

The United States are the most successful nation in the competition’s history, winning it 17 times, seven of which were in successive years from 1976-1982

On Saturday, Pliskova beat Mladenovic 6-3 4-6 16-14 in a near-four-hour match, before Garcia saw off Petra Kvitova 7-6 (8-6) 6-3.

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ATP World Tour Finals: Jamie Murray & Bruno Soares win doubles opener

  • Posted: Nov 13, 2016

Jamie Murray and Bruno Soares won their opening doubles match at the ATP World Tour Finals in London.

The Britain and his Brazilian partner, who are seeded second, beat Treat Huey and Max Mirnyi 6-4 7-5 at the O2 Arena.

The match ended on a disputed line call with Scotland’s Murray challenging after a Mirnyi mis-hit was called in – replays showed the ball was out.

“I was not going to get bad, having maybe lost the match and not challenged that call,” said Murray.

Earlier on Sunday, the Bryan brothers Bob and Mike defeated Marcelo Melo and Ivan Dodig 7-6 (7-3) 6-0.

The Americans will play Murray and Soares on Tuesday in their second matches in the Edberg/Jarryd group.

Murray and Soares are in contention to end 2016 as the number one doubles team in the world, but must overhaul French duo Nicolas Mahout and Pierre-Hugues Herbert.

“Our goal is just to try to win when we step on the court this week,” said Murray.

“If it ends up that we’re the number one team, that will be a huge achievement for us.

“If it doesn’t work out that way, we’ll still have had a great year, lots to be proud of, lots to look forward to going into 2017.”

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Fired-up Djokovic beats Thiem after scare – highlights & report

  • Posted: Nov 13, 2016

A fired-up Novak Djokovic fought back to beat Austria’s Dominic Thiem in his opening match at the ATP World Tour Finals in London.

The Serb, who is trying to regain the world number one ranking from Britain’s Andy Murray, won 6-7 (10-12) 6-0 6-2.

Djokovic was warned for unsportsmanlike conduct after losing the first set but won 12 of the last 14 games.

If he wins at least two group matches and goes on to lift the trophy he will return to the top of the rankings.

Murray replaced Djokovic as number one last week, and the Scot plays Marin Cilic in his opening match in the John McEnroe Group on Monday.

“I thought I played very well in the second set especially, but the third as well,” said Djokovic.

“When I had the great comeback of saving six, seven set points, then I didn’t manage to win that first set, of course you’re frustrated.

“On the other hand, I think I managed to kind of compose myself and really gather all my attention and concentration to what was coming up after that.”

Milos Raonic and Gael Monfils will play the second Ivan Lendl Group match at 20:00 GMT on Sunday, after Jamie Murray and Bruno Soares take on Treat Huey and Max Mirnyi in the doubles.

Angry outburst ‘not an issue’

The five-time champion went into the match with doubts surrounding his form after a disappointing second half of the season, but grew stronger as the contest wore on.

Djokovic went into the match with doubts surrounding his form after a disappointing second half of the season, but the five-time champion grew stronger as the contest wore on.

Thiem needed seven set points but eventually secured the opener with Djokovic looking uncertain after getting early treatment on a cut finger.

The Serb’s frustration boiled over when he lost a gripping tie-break, and he fired a ball in the direction of his player box which narrowly missed coaches Boris Becker and Marian Vajda.

It drew a warning from umpire Carlos Bernardes but appeared to release rather than increase the tension felt by Djokovic, who eased away from Finals debutant Thiem.

After a 67-minute first set, Djokovic needed just 55 minutes to race through sets two and three, roaring with delight after breaking serve in the third.

He will play the winner of Sunday’s late match between Raonic and Monfils on Tuesday.

Asked whether he was concerned that another flash of temper could risk a default, Djokovic said it was “not an issue for me”.

When it was suggested that the ball he batted away in anger could easily have hit a fan or official, he added: “It could have snowed in O2 Arena, as well, but it didn’t.”

Analysis

Andrew Castle, BBC Sport commentator:

I still don’t think Djokovic is completely right; I don’t think he’s particularly comfortable in his own skin at the moment. I don’t know what’s going on but it’s not quite the same superb Djokovic that we’ve come to see.

The standards he has set, the bar is so high, perhaps the only way is down. He’s having a bit of a lull at the moment. I know he’s won a match and could be number one at the end of this year, but having watched him since he was 14, 15 years of age – I’ve seen him have more fun than this.

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Moya: "We're Taking It Match By Match"

  • Posted: Nov 13, 2016

Moya: "We're Taking It Match By Match"

Nov122016

Milos Raonic’s coach assesses the Canadian ahead of the season finale

Following his pupil closely, Carlos Moya arrived at The O2 on Saturday to practise with the Canadian ahead of the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals.

The World No. 4 in the Emirates ATP Rankings, who withdrew ahead of the semi-finals of last week’s BNP Paribas Masters due to a leg injury, is looking at his options to arrive best-prepared for his first match in London. He opens on Sunday against Gael Monfils.

“It’s okay,” Moya said to ATPWorldTour.com after a practice session with the Canadian. “Yesterday was the third day he practised after the injury. It started very slowly. On Thursday he had a more intense training. We are making progress, but we know that we have limited time. The progression has been good.”

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The former World No. 1 is aware that Raonic faces a different situation in this tournament from 2014, when he made his debut at the season finale.

“Now he expects to be here and is fighting for No. 3,” added Moya. “The goal at the beginning of the season was to qualify for London, but once the season progressed and he achieved so many good results, we raised the bar. He proved to himself that there are ways to go far. If he is in good physical condition, he will be one of the players to watch this week, that is for sure.”

View practice schedule & watch live stream from practice courts 

Moya, finalist at the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals in 1998 (l. to Corretja), when the event was held in Hanover, Germany, knows the difficulty involved in the tournament. Raonic is making his second appearance, having fallen in the group stage in 2014.

“They are the eight best players. You cannot expect to have an easy opponent. There are two newcomers and maybe they will struggle a little, although Monfils is a very experienced player. Thiem has not had the consistency as he did in early 2016, but that is normal. It sounds like a cliché, but we take the tournament match by match.

“I was expecting a season like this. I’ve had a lot of faith in him and I thought he was a player who’s not very far from reaching his full potential. This year, he’s been very consistent, except for the stretch from September to October, but that is normal too. Right now, he is No. 4 in the world and very close (65 points) to Stan Wawrinka for No. 3. That shows you how strong he’s been and the good year he’s had. Right now he is playing great tennis, as he’s demonstrated in Paris. Hopefully he will hold up physically and everything will go well.”

Raonic opens against Monfils in the night session on Sunday, with the match starting not before 8:00pm local time. He trails the Frenchman 3-2 in their FedEx ATP Head2Head, but has claimed two of their three encounters this year.

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