The best players of the 2009 season gathered at London’s O2 Arena between November 22-29, fighting for the first ATP World Tour Finals at the new venue. Roger Federer, Juan Martin del Potro, Andy Murray and Fernando Verdasco were in Group A, and it was one of the craziest runs in the history of this competition!
All 12 encounters went into a decider, with no idea who would reach the semi-final until the very last point of the final round-robin clash! Federer, Murray and del Potro all defeated Verdasco, with two of three matches going into a deciding tie break.
They shared victories among themselves to form one of the tightest circles we have ever seen at the ATP Finals. All three players stood on a 2-1 record and a 5-4 in terms of sets won! Andy Murray took down Juan Martin del Potro on an opening day, while Roger Federer ousted Fernando Verdasco with a strong performance in the decider.
Facing elimination, del Potro prevailed against Verdasco in the final tie break of the second match. Federer again saved his best for the last to beat Murray 6-1 in the third set and top the standings. Andy Murray could have secured the semi-final place with a straight-sets victory over Verdasco.
However, they pushed each other until the deciding tie break. Andy prevailed and sent all the attention to the group’s last remaining clash between Roger Federer and Juan Martin del Potro. Like the previous 11 matches, this was an absolute cracker.
Del Potro made a perfect start and clinched the opener 6-2.
We saw one of the tightest round-robin battles at the 2009 ATP Finals.
There were no breaks in set number two, and Roger faced elimination after trailing 5-4 in the tie break.
He stayed calm and grabbed the following three points to level the score and become the first player to secure the semi-final berth! The battle was between del Potro and Murray, with Andy hoping for Roger to win four games in set number three and help him.
The crucial moment of the entire encounter and the round-robin stage came in the seventh game. Roger created two break chances and sought the break that would have punched Murray’s semi-final ticket. Del Potro stayed calm, repelled them and closed the game with a forehand down the line winner for a 4-3 lead.
Still, the Argentine needed to break Roger’s serve in the next one to stand a chance. He did that at 15 when Federer’s forehand landed long, moving 5-3 up and serving for the match and a place in the semi-final. Juan Martin delivered four winners in game nine, sealing the deal and moving through after winning just one game more than Murray! The Argentine stood on a 45-43 win-loss ratio and left the Briton empty-handed with a 44-43 one!
