Agony for Murray as pressure hits Peers
Jamie murray and John Peers blew five match points in a gutwrenching defeat by defending champions Bob and mike Bryan at the ATP World Tour Finals last night.
it was a straight shoot-out for a place in the men’s doubles semifinals and murray and his australian partner looked well set for victory at 9-5 in the first-to-10 deciding match tie-break.
Three chances slipped away but victory was in their grasp on the fourth as Peers pulled his racquet back for what appeared an easy putaway only to blast a forehand long.
and it was two more errors from the australian that ultimately proved decisive as the american twins clinched a 6-7 (5-7), 7-6 (7-5), 16-14 win to move through to the last four.
it was a horrible end to a hugely fruitful three-year partnership for murray and Peers, who have both found new partners for next season.
at least for murray there is the Davis Cup Final to look forward to against Belgium next weekend, where he will hope for a more uplifting conclusion.
earlier, roger Federer made it three wins out of three in the men’s singles with a 7-5, 4-6, 6-4 victory over Japan’s Kei Nishikori.
Federer was already guaranteed a place in the last four courtesy of his straight-sets wins over Tomas Berdych and Novak Djokovic but battled for two hours and 10 minutes to maintain his unbeaten record in the tournament.
Nishikori fought back from 4-1 down in the second and third sets but ultimately it was to no avail and his hopes of reaching the semi-finals are now over.
Djokovic later joined Federer in the semi-finals with a straight-sets victory over Berdych last night.
Federer has drawn attention not just for his tennis this week — this is the 13th time in 14 appearances he has reached the last four — but also his growing beard.
Whether it is here to stay is still up for discussion in the Federer household.
He said: ‘if it itches too much, i’ll take it off. if my girls can’t stand it, i’ll take it off. if i look in the mirror and i don’t like it, i’ll take it off. maybe i’ll think of Santa and keep it. it’s around the corner. i don’t know yet.’
The afternoon match was an antidote to all the one-sided clashes the O2 arena has witnessed this week.
Federer and Nishikori are two of the most watchable players around and both produced some exquisite play for the packed arena.
Nishikori burst into life midway through the opening set to turn a 3-1 deficit into a 4-3 lead but Federer dug his heels in to level again and took the first set when his opponent netted a backhand.
The match looked over at 4-1 to Federer in the second set but, helped by surely one of the worst shots the great man has ever played — a forehand shank from on top of the net — Nishikori won five games in a row.
History looked to be repeating itself in the decider but this time Federer stopped the rot and buried a smash on his first match point to make it 51 wins in 14 appearances at the season-ending tournament.
meanwhile, Djokovic made no mistake against Berdych to book his place in the semi-finals.
The world No 1 eased to a 6-3, 7-5 victory and is likely to play rafael Nadal in the last four.