ATP World Tour Finals Day 2 Preview: Nadal, Murray aim for wins

After Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer’s wins in Group Stan Smith on Sunday, it is now the turn of the men in Group Ilie Nastase to open their account. On Monday, Andy Murray will be fighting it out with David Ferrer while Rafael Nadal will square off against Stan Wawrinka in a blockbuster clash.

We preview the two matches:

(2) Andy Murray v (7) David Ferrer

Murray and Ferrer both made the finals of the 2013 Sony Open, where Murray took victory

Head-to-head: Murray leads 11-6

World No. 2 Andy Murray certainly goes into this match as the favourite. 2015 has been the most consistent year for the Scot, who has mustered 68 victories this season so far. The two-time Grand Slam champion has looked poised and determined as he grabbed four trophies in 2015.

Last year, this tournament turned out to be a hellish experience for the 28-year-old. He lost twice and exited in the round robin stage. One of those losses included a 0-6, 1-6 hammering at the hands of Roger Federer.

The former three-time semi-finalist would surely like to erase those harrowing memories and look to finish the Tour season on a high.

However, Murray is saddled with the responsibility of leading the British Davis Cup team to victory when they face Belgium on clay at Ghent in late November. For that, the Scot has had to divide his preparations for the two events on two different surfaces. Would that hamper his chances at the World Tour Finals?

It might aid David Ferrer – a player who has beaten Murray six times – to cause some damage. However, despite having won five titles this season, Ferrer has not been able to solve the Murray puzzle this season and has lost to him twice – at the French Open quarter-finals and at their very last meeting at the Paris Masters semi-finals.

The Spanish World No. 7, who reached the final of this tournament in 2007, has not managed to record a single win in London since 2012. Clearly, Ferrer is capable enough of stretching the match against Murray but probably not plucky enough to upstage the Scot.

Prediction: Murray in straight sets

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(4) Stan Wawrinka v (5) Rafael Nadal

Wawrinka and Nadal last met at the ATP Paris Masters quarters, with the Swiss coming out on top

Head-to-head: Nadal leads 13-3

This is the harder one to predict. This match can swing both ways and both these men will be hungry to get the win and be in a comfortable position for the rest of their challenge at the season-ending championships.

On paper, Stan Wawrinka should be the winner. The World No. 4 has arrived at the last competitive event of the year armed with four titles that was highlighted by his surprise French Open victory over Novak Djokovic. Post-US Open, he has won the Japan Open and also reached the semi-finals of the Paris Masters where he was the only man able to take a set off the Serb.

Against Rafael Nadal too, he has a 2-1 edge this year and has beaten him at their most recent meeting at the Paris Masters quarter-finals on indoor hardcourts. That should augur well for the Swiss going into this eagerly-awaited contest.

However, that defeat for World No. 5 Nadal came at the end of a tedious stint in which he played four out of five weeks. From the beginning of October, the struggling Nadal had embarked on a mission to get as many matches as possible under his belt as he kept on searching for his lost touch. And to a large extent, it did help – he reached the final in Beijing, the semi-finals in Shanghai and the final in Basel.

Nadal’s familiar fighting spirit and resilience were visible once again and the Spaniard was truly resurgent. However, coming to the Paris Masters, fatigue clearly had the last word as Nadal struggled to hit even the easiest of his bread-and-butter forehands and missed a chunk of set points en route to a straight-set loss at the hands of Wawrinka.

Having had a well-deserved rest, the two-time former finalist should be raring to go at the World Tour Finals. It certainly won’t be as easy as it looked at Shanghai when the Spaniard the Swiss out of the water 6-2, 6-1. This match has the ingredients to be a thriller with the possibility of both men exchanging sets and the outcome getting decided in the third set.

Prediction: Nadal in three sets