NEWSPost India

Roger Federer heads into Tuesday’s eagerly-anticipated showdown with Andy Murray at the O2 Arena looking to rediscover his winning touch against the British number one. With both men having won their opening matches at the ATP World Tour Finals in convincing fashion, the winner could have sealed a place in Saturday’s semi-finals come this evening.

While it is a rarity for any player to head into a match with Federer as favourite, Murray has every reason to fancy his chances against the Swiss star. The Scot leads their career head-to-head 8-5 and has won his last two outings against the world number two in Masters finals in Toronto and Shanghai.

However, it is Federer who retains the edge in their biggest encounters having emerged triumphant when they locked horns in the finals of the US and Australian Opens as well as their round-robin match at the O2 last year. Looking ahead to their latest clash, Federer said: “The top guys - I’m talking about Murray, (Novak) Djokovic, and Rafa (Nadal) - we’ve kind of beaten each other on and off. I don’t think anybody’s beaten the other guy five in a row or something.

“So you always look for new ways of trying to beat him again, look back at the matches, what happened, what went well. A lot has to do with form on the day as well, obviously.

Peaked

“We’ve kind of peaked at similar times this year. We both played well at the Australian, then we played well in Toronto. We both played well in Shanghai. “Here (London) it seems like we’re both playing well again. He’s had a great season and it’s going to be a great match.” Murray is taking nothing for granted despite his recent record against Federer and the hugely-impressive form he showed in beating Robin Soderling 6-2 6-4 on Sunday.

“Every time you play against him it’s tough,” said the 23-year-old. “It’s obviously good to win against him. But in tennis every match is completely different. It’s a new day. I played great (on Sunday), I could play horrible on Tuesday.”