Friday, November 27, 2009

DelPo and Federer Advance to Semifinals in London




Andy Murray, Roger Federer and Juan Martin del Potro all had opportunities to reach the semifinal round out of Group A at the World Tour Finals in London, but after a complicated procedure to determine which two out of the trio would make it, the latter 2 advanced, and Murray was left on the short end of the stick. In the first match on Thanksgiving day, Murray and Verdasco battled it out. Verdasco, who was already eliminated from contention, fought extremely hard for every minute of the 3-hour thriller, but Murray prevailed in the end, 6-4, 6-7(4), 7-6 (3), leaving the Brit's fate in the hands of Federer and DelPo. The Argentine picked up where he left off in the US Open final, firing forehands and serves to take the opening set easily, 6-2. Federer though, bounced back to capture the 2nd set in a tiebreaker, which he won 7-5. After holding serve to start the deciding set, Federer's spot was clinched, but the Swiss had no idea. “Otherwise I would have been gone on the ground and celebrated it, right?” said the world number 1. “I didn’t do that.” Del Potro then turned up the motor to take then match, 6-3 in the 3rd. Had Federer held serve just once more in that final set, Murray would have advanced with the 15-time Grand Slam champ, but the hometown favorite was all smiles after his disappointing conclusion, telling the press, “The people that go through are the ones that deserve to.”

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