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Murray ready to battle

Image: Murray: Taking nothing for granted

Andy Murray knows he cannot afford to be complacent if he is to reach the semi-finals of the ATP World Tour Finals.

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British star taking nothing for granted

Andy Murray knows he cannot afford to be complacent if he is to advance to the semi-finals of the ATP World Tour Finals for a second consecutive year. The world number three got his Group A campaign off to an impressive start with a 6-3 3-6 6-2 triumph over US Open champion Juan Martin del Potro of Argentina. However, British number one Murray still has two matches to face in the round-robin stage of the O2 Arena event against world number one Roger Federer and on-form Spaniard Fernando Verdasco, and the Scot knows his ideal start could be proved worthless. "It obviously helps a lot," said 22-year-old Murray. "But you have got to pretty much win two matches out of the three to give yourself a chance. I could still win two and not go through. "I'll try and get the next one out of the way. If I can win that one I'll put myself in a good position."

Defeat

Murray gave a career-best performance last year to defeat Federer in his final round-robin clash and prevent the 15-time grand slam champion from reaching the last four. The effort took it out of Murray and he went on to lose his semi-final to Nikolay Davydenko, but the Briton insists he employed the right tactics and does not intend to take it easy against the Swiss champion this time around. A victory over Federer is likely to book Murray a place in the semis and the Scot believes the battling qualities he was forced to display against Del Potro will benefit him in the showdown. "It's not just against him, against Roger or Rafa (Nadal) or Novak (Djokovic), all of them can go on streaks where they play great," said Murray. "It's like (Andy) Roddick, sometimes he serves unbelievable for a set and a half, then you get one chance. With him (Del Potro), he's got a big serve, long reach, goes for huge shots. "You just have to try and find a way through that. Tactically, I've always been quite good. So I found a way through it. I was happy with a lot of parts of my game." The event marks Murray's first competition in London since he reached the Wimbledon semi-finals earlier this year and he admits he is enjoying not being subject to such a large amount of public attention. "There's no kind of build-up to this event," he added. "With Wimbledon there's a good two weeks where you've got Queen's and then the week before, which makes it a little bit more difficult."