Federer and Murray meet at the ATP World Finals

Roger Federer and Andy Murray meet at the O2 Arena in the final match of the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals Group B. As it stands, having both played two of their three matches, Federer sits top of the group on 4 points having won both of his matches, whereas Murray finds himself sitting in third place, on 2 points but below Kei Nishikori, who is above him due to their head-to-head record.

There are a number of scenarios which could develop leading to both players going through to the semi-finals but whoever finishes second in the group is likely to face the seemingly unstoppable Novak Djokovic in the semi-finals and that is something both players would want to avoid given the chance and it`s Federer who is in pole position to do this.

Currently sitting on 4 points, Federer will know that his passage through the semi-finals is all but guaranteed and Murray could be mistaken in to thinking that the Swiss might be taking it easy because of this and saving some energy for the knockout stages. However, the thought of having to face Djokovic before the final is enough motivation to spur anyone on, plus the slight risk that he could lose out all together means that Federer will definitely be brining his `A` game to the match and is available at 4/9 with SkyBet to defeat Murray.

On the other hand, Murray has no option but to win this match if the Scot is to progress in to the semi-finals, having already lost one of his two matches to Nishikori. However, the turn around that Murray produced against Milos Ranoic to defeat the Canadian in straight sets, winning 78% of points after his first serve, bodes well for this match and shows that the performance levels are there. Murray enters the match as the outsider with ladbrokes at 2/1.

The head-to-head record between the two players is currently tied at 11-11 and this may surprise a few people who would have assumed it would be in favour of the Swiss. Having said that, Federer holds the upper hand in their most recent matches, having won their only two meetings of 2014. Both of these matches were played on the hard court surface, with Federer defeating Murray in 4 sets at the Australian Open and in 2 sets at the Cincinnati Masters. In fact, to find the last time that Murray defeated Federer, you have to go back to the Australian Open in 2013, when Murray defeated Federer in 5 sets. Therefore, if this season`s head-to-head is anything to go by, Federer should have the upper hand here but with the home crowd advantage and the confidence boosting straight sets win over Roanic behind him, Murray will make sure that it`s a very tight match and one that`s difficult to call.

Nonetheless, having reached at least the semi-finals in all but one of his last seven ATP Tour events, it`s difficult to look beyond Federer and bet365 offer 3/1 for the Swiss to take the match in three sets.

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13/11/2014     © Frixo 2026