November 26, 2009: Roger Federer, Juan Martin del Potro and calculations
The best players of the 2009 season had gathered at the O2 Arena in London between November 22-29, fighting for the first ATP World Tour Finals at the new venue where it stayed ever since. Roger Federer, Juan Martin del Potro, Andy Murray and Fernando Verdasco had been drawn in Group A and it was one of the craziest runs in the history of this competition, with all 12 matches going into a decider and with no idea who will reach the semis until the very last point of the very last round robin clash! Federer, Murray and del Potro have all defeated Verdasco (two of three matches had went into a deciding tie break) and they shared wins among themselves to form one of the closest circles we have ever seen at the ATP Finals, with all three standing on a 2-1 record and 5-4 in terms of number of sets won!
On an opening day, Andy Murray took down Fernando Verdasco while Roger Federer ousted Fernando Verdasco with a strong performance in the deciding set. Facing the elimination, del Potro prevailed against Verdasco in the deciding tie break of the second match while Federer once again saved his best for the last to beat Murray 6-1 in the third and top the standings. On November 26, Andy Murray could have secured the place in the semis with a straight sets win over Verdasco but in the end he barely overpowered the Spaniard in the deciding tie break, sending all the attention to the last remaining clash of the group between Roger Federer and Juan Martin del Potro.
Like the previous 11 matches, this turned out to be a real cracker and it was del Potro who made a perfect start after winning the opener 6-2. There were no breaks in set number two and Roger faced an elimination after trailing 5-4 in the tie break, only to win the next three points to level the overall score and become the first player who has secured the place in the semis! The battle was on between del Potro and Murray and Andy was hoping for Roger to win four games in set number three that would send him into the last four as well.
The crucial moment of the entire match and the round robin stage had come in the seventh game when Roger created two break points, seeking the break that would punch the semi-final ticket for Murray. Del Potro stayed calm, repelling them all and closing the game with a forehand down the line winner for a 4-3. Still, the Argentinian needed to break Roger's serve in the following game and he did that at 15 when Federer's forehand landed long, moving 5-3 up and serving for the match and the place in the semis in the next game.
Juan Martin delivered four winners in that last game of the match, sealing the deal and earning the place in the semis after winning just one game more than Murray, standing on a 45-43 win-loss ratio and leaving the Briton empty-handed on 44-43! In the semi-final, Federer lost to Nikolay Davydenko while del Potro played another thrilling match against Robin Soderling, prevailing 6-7 6-3 7-6 in two hours and 11 minutes for the place in the final where he lost to the Russian in straight sets, ending his amazing campaign with the runner-up spot.
from Tennis World USA https://ift.tt/2PWvz0F
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