The 3rd day of the ATP Tour Finals tournament saw Group B action, as Roger Federer and Andy Murray faced off in a 1st v 2nd clash whilst later Robin Soderling played David Ferrer. Before the match Federer was atop Group B thanks to a better game difference than Murray, who started the match badly. The World No.5 gave an immediate break point to Federer in the 1st game of the match but showed resilience to fight back and hold serve.

His resilience didn’t last long though, with Federer cruising through his first service game before racing out to a 0-30 lead on Murray’s next service game. 3 break points quickly presented themselves and the Swiss took the 1st with ease to give himself a 2-1 lead. Murray head dropped at this point but he showed fighting spirit by holding his serve throughout the set. Despite this he wasn’t able to dent the graceful play of Federer, who was clearly enjoying himself. The Scot threatened briefly at 5-4, however the Australian Open champion turned his play up a notch and wrestled control of the game back into his hands to close out the set, 6-4.

From this point onwards things went from bad to worse for Murray, as Federer took full control of the match, breaking serve at his 1st attempt in the 2nd set before consolidating with a service game in no time. This ruthless streak continued as the World No.2 raced out to a 3-0 lead after taking the 1st of 2 break points on the Murray serve before holding serve himself. Murray was able to avoid an important whitewash by holding 2 service games but these were just footnotes in an impressive Federer victory, 6-4, 6-2.

A few hours later the 2nd game of the day was played, between Robin Soderling and David Ferrer, each had lost their opening games and were looking for a leg up in the standings. Soderling started confidently by crushing 3 serves to quickly take his 1st service game. Ferrer’s reply was equally as good though, holding to 30, and powerful serving seemed the order of the day as each held service with minimal fuss until finally, at 6-5 and Ferrer serving to stay in the set, the pressure got to him. A powerful forehand winner took Soderling to 0-30 and he took 1 of the next 2 points at the net for 2 set points. Soderling tidied up and took the set 7-5.

Any thoughts that this development would open up the game were quickly quashed as both players resumed their ice cold service games until the 6th game, on Ferrer’s serve at 3-2. All Soderling wanted was a sniff at a break point and he got that at 30-40, he didn‘t waste it and took an important break. The Swede didn’t let his concentration drop though, consolidating it with 2 fine aces to give himself a 5-2 lead and sensing victory.

However, any hopes from Soderling that Ferrer would simply crumble weren’t met as the Spainard kept himself in it by holding serve and then astonishingly broke Soderling, who was serving for the match. The Spaniard holds thanks to some sloppy errors from Soderling to make it 5-5. At this point the momentum looked to be fully in the Spaniard’s favour however, the World No.4 battled back magnificently to hold serve and make Ferrer do the same to stay in the match, and in all likelihood, the tournament. It looked like Ferrer would manage this at 40-30 but Soderling hung in there and got it to deuce. A couple of errors handed Soderling the match, 7-5, 7-5 to send Ferrer home after his last game on Thursday.

This result has the effect of helping Soderling’s game difference to -2, whilst his win-loss record is now at 1-1, the same as Murray’s. However, the Scot sits in 2nd place by virtue of his victory over Soderling on Sunday. Ferrer is now out due to his 2 losses, even if he was to thrash Andy Murray in the last round of games and Federer were to do the same to Soderling, Soderling would immediately rank above Ferrer due to today’s victory. Roger Federer is virtually assured of a place in the semi-finals, his task on Thursday will be to ensure he has 1st place in Group B and ensure he faces the runner-up in Group A.