• ATP World Tour Finals

Federer says rout of Murray was 'uncomfortable'

Roger Federer beat Andy Murray 6-0 6-1 © Getty Images

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Roger Federer admits he felt "uncomfortable" at the prospect beating Andy Murray 6-0 6-0 before the Scot prevented a whitewash defeat at the World Tour Finals.

Murray was on the verge of losing both sets to love for the first time in his career at Tour level before finally winning his first game at 5-0 down in the second set, after 52 minutes on court at the O2 Arena.

A crisis of confidence

Andy Murray lost 6-0 6-1 to Roger Federer on Thursday © Getty Images

• Andy Murray slumped out of the World Tour Finals after a humiliating defeat and a poor year. After watching his performances at London's O2 Arena this week, Nick Atkin asks if he will ever reach the top again.
  
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Federer went on to wrap up the win in the next game but said he didn't enjoy handing such a heavy defeat to Murray.

"[It was] not so cool because I wouldn't want to be in that position," said Federer. "I was happy to get it done.

"At the end I was happy I didn't win the second to last game to be quite honest. Yeah, it's uncomfortable. I don't know. I don't like it."

Needing to beat Federer in straight sets to reach the last four, Murray knew he was out of the tournament after going down 6-0 in the opener in just 23 minutes.

"I don't think Andy played his very best," added Federer, who now leads their head-to-head 12-11. "It wasn't a finals. It was a round robin. I had already qualified after the first set. He was already out. The circumstances were not quite the same.

"Nevertheless, it's a big opportunity, huge arena, with a very even head‑to‑head. We've had tough matches in the past. It's a match you don't want to lose. That's why I kept pushing for it and tried to get to the finish line as quick as I could."

He added: "I definitely was able to play on my terms. For me, things went very well. I was able to put Andy under pressure very often, and I think the match couldn't have gone any better for me really."

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