Federer beats Murray to reach London final

London, Nov 12 (IANS/RIA Novosti) Roger Federer beat local favourite Andy Murray in front of the London crowd to reach the final of the season-ending ATP World Tour Finals for the eighth time.

In Monday’s final, Federer will play world No.1 Novak Djokovic.

Federer gained revenge over Murray for the defeat in the Olympics final in August as he secured a 7-6(5), 6-2 win Sunday.

Murray broke serve in the first game of the match, but Federer recovered to take the first set on a tie break before wrapping up the second set in half an hour.

“It’s exciting, no doubt about it. I love playing against Novak,” Federer said on the ATP website.

“It is a big opportunity playing sort of the last match of the season, and facing off

against Novak obviously is always special, especially here at the World Tour Finals.”

Murray praised Federer after suffering his third semifinal loss at the Tour Finals.

“Once he gets ahead, he’s incredibly hard to stop. He tends to play better and better when he gets up. I feel like I gave him that advantage at the beginning of the second set,” Murray said.

Six-time Tour Finals champion Federer, 31, leads Djokovic 16-12 in their head-to-head record and won their last two meetings.

—IANS/RIA Novosti

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IANS 2012-11-12 15:02:15