By AjayTyagi (TennisEarth.com), Submitted On
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Fourth seed and home favourite Andy Murray made a solid start to his title bid at the 2009 Barclays ATP World Tour Finals with a three set win over U.S. Open champion Juan Martin Del Potro.

Murray started the match in flying colours and grabbed an early break to race to a 3-0 lead. With a double break soon, Murray found himself all set to serve for the opener when Del potro found his rhythm and got one of the breaks back to get back into the match. After 49 minutes of play, the opening set went to the Scot 6-3. However, with a much improved play, Del Potro grabbed an early break to raise to a 3-0 lead as an immediate response.

Murray did manage to get the break back, but got his serve broken once again to let Del Potro lead the second set 4-2. The Argentine then took the matters into his own hands and levelled the match one set a piece.

The final set witnessed the home court darling bounce back and pocket an elusive break for a 3-0 lead. Del Potro's continued efforts seemed late-struck as Murray consolidated his break with some gallantly held serves and finished the 6-3, 3-6, 6-2 match after two hours and 10 minutes of absolute tussle.

Top seed and four time Masters Cup champion Roger Federer is scheduled to play the second Round Robin match later today against the Spaniard Fernando Verdasco.

"He didn't start particularly well but after 5-0 I thought the standard was very good. He's got a big serve, long reach and goes for huge shots. You just have to try and get through it. Tactically I've always been fairly good so I found a way through today." said Murray

When asked about his chances in the semis, Murray replied "I could win two matches and still not get to the semi-finals. But winning the first one obviously helps a lot."

"Against Andy, always the match is very tough. We play three sets in every tournament, every match. He was a little lucky, but you need the luck to win. And today it was with him.” Del Potro said.