Murray Wins First Match As World No. 1

Andy Murray made a winning start in his first match as No. 1 in the Emirates ATP Rankings. The Scot defeated seventh seed Marin Cilic 6-3, 6-2 in their Group John McEnroe clash at the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals on Monday night.

“It was a really, really good atmosphere tonight,” said Murray, who is now 20 matches unbeaten since 18 September. “After a long few months, it’s nice to know that I’m going to be finishing the year playing in that sort of atmosphere. It helps you get up for the matches a bit more, as well.”

Murray added 200 points with his 12th win over Cilic and now has 11,110 points in the Emirates ATP Rankings as he battles Novak Djokovic (10,980) for year-end No. 1. Enjoying a career-best year, Murray is now 73-9 (44-6 on hard) with eight titles overall. He will next play fifth seed Kei Nishikori on Wednesday.

“I didn’t see the match, but Nishikori obviously must have played very well,” said Murray, who has a 7-2 FedEx ATP Head2Head record against Nishikori. “I would say this is probably his best year that he’s had on the tour. He’s one of the best players in the world. He’s been playing very well the last few months especially.”

The first five games of Murray and Cilic’s 15th meeting featured break points, with Murray breaking twice to take a 3-1 lead. Cheered on by a patriotic crowd, Murray played with great patience, but struggled to hold serve – serving four double faults and winning 43 per cent of his second service points. Cilic, who committed 17 unforced errors, looked for a second break, but Murray was able to clinch the 46-minute opener.

In the second set, Cilic attempted to impose his game and despite his best efforts, creating one break point at 1-0, with Murray serving at 30/40, he could not break through. Murray absorbed the pressure and broke twice in a run of five straight games to wrap up victory in 90 minutes.

Cilic, who first qualified for the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals in 2014, is now 0-4 at The O2 in London. He will play third seed Stan Wawrinka in two days’ time, hoping to improve on his 47-22 record on the year.

“Obviously, I need to get into the rhythm on the serve,” said Cilic. “I think I wasn’t hitting the spots so well today. I think obviously Andy was returning really well. I have to prepare definitely a little bit better [against Wawrinka] than for today. Hopefully I can start a little bit better in that match.”