ANDY MURRAY OFF TO WINNING START AT BARCLAYS ATP WORLD TOUR TENNIS FINALS WITH STRAIGHT-SET VICTORY OVER CILIC

Written by: Staff on 14th November 2016

ANDY MURRAY OFF TO WINNING START AT BARCLAYS ATP WORLD TOUR TENNIS FINALS WITH STRAIGHT-SET VICTORY OVER CILIC

epa05631661 Britain's Andy Murray reacts after winning a crucial point against Marin Cilic of Croatia during their singles group stage match at the ATP World Tour finals tennis tournament at the O2 Arena in London, Britain, 14 November 2016. EPA/ANDY RAIN |

By Ricky Dimon

The race for the year-end No. 1 ranking is alive and well at the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals. Matching Novak Djokovic’s victory over Dominic Thiem on Sunday, Andy Murray dominated his opener 6-3, 6-2 at the expense of Marin Cilic on Monday night. Murray saved four of five break points and also converted four of five break points to prevail in one hour and 30 minutes.

Neither player could get in a groove throughout the first set, but the top-seeded Scot reduced his unforced error count from 14 in the opener to just five in the second. He also struck nine winners in the second after hitting only two in the first.

With the match never in serious doubt, the loudest ovation came before it started–when Murray made a grand entrance as the new No. 1 player in the world.

“It was a great reception, obviously,” Murray said. “(It was) a really, really good atmosphere tonight. Yeah, it was obviously nice to play in that stadium with the crowd like that. It obviously helps. After a long kind of few months, it’s nice to know that I’m going to be finishing the year playing in that sort of atmosphere. It helps you get up for the matches a bit more, as well.”

“Overall I felt I was not playing too bad,” Cilic commented. “Just obviously maybe a different pattern of the balls. The hitting could have been better. Yeah, a little bit unfortunate to go 6-3, 6-2 down, where I felt it was much, much closer in the first set. (In the) beginning of the second, I had couple chances, as well.

Marin Cilic of Croatia reacts after breaking Britain’s Andy Murray’s serve during their singles group stage match at the ATP World Tour finals tennis tournament at the O2 Arena in London, Britain, 14 November 2016. EPA/ANDY RAIN

“Unfortunately, that’s the way it is. Obviously (it’s) tougher to start straightaway with matches like these against the best guys. I’m not so used to it. That’s something I guess quite new for me. Most of the tournaments I’m playing them (in the) third (or) fourth round, at least. It’s a little bit different.”

The night session started with a doubles win for Henri Kontinen and John Peers via a 6-3, 7-6(7) decision against Feliciano Lopez and Marc Lopez. Kontinen and Peers did not face a single break point while getting the job done in one hour and 18 minutes.

The Finnish-Australian duo showed signs of cracking at the finish line after they seized a 5-2 advantage in the second-set tiebreaker. At 5-4, Peers double-faulted. On match point on his own serve at 7-6, Kontinen dumped a backhand volley in the net. At 8-7, however, Peers came up with a perfect service return and Kontinen put away the ensuing volley.

Lopez and Lopez made the score competitive, but they won only 53 total points compared to the 71 for their opponents.