Andy Murray slumped to a straightforward defeat to Roger Federer and he faces a shoot-out to qualify for the semi-finals of the Barclays ATP Tour Finals.

Federer was “a bit shocked” by Murray’s inability to put him under pressure. He admitted in an on-court interview his shocking experience, as he strolled to a 6-4, 6-2 victory. Off the Federer serve, the Scot won only eight points, although he is considered to be one of the best returners in the sport.

Murray will battle against David Ferrer of Spain to reach the semi-finals after just losing out on the knockout stage last year.

A disappointed Murray said, “I did the two most important things in tennis very poorly today, which is serve and return. And against someone as good as Roger, you can’t do them badly. You’re not going to win the match. That’s why the scoreline was like it was.”

However, the criticisms that the 23-year-old Scot was “flat” and that his body language was poor, were dismissed by him. He said, “If I went out there and I smashed the racket or started shouting, everyone would say to me: ‘You were in a bad mood today, mentally you weren’t strong enough’. In the match against [Robin] Soderling, I was very quiet, as well. I didn’t really show much emotion on the court. I tried to do the same thing today.”

However, in one hour 16 minutes of extreme discomfort for Murray, the clash built up as one of the contenders for match of the tournament spluttered. With a place in the semi-finals on the line, Murray now faces Ferrer, the 28-year-old Spaniard. Ferrer has lost the only match on hard court, although he has beaten Murray three times on clay.

After the end of the match, Federer said, “Sometimes it is hard to play a perfect match against each other when there’s a huge excitement around it. I’ve struggled with it in the past. Maybe that’s what happened to Andy today.”

He added, “He’s improved again the last year and had another exceptional season. I don’t see any reason why he is not going to qualify for the semi-finals. Today was a bad day for him, but it’s far from over.”

Andy Murray · Barclays ATP Tour · David Ferrer · Roger Federer

To the third round of the Paris Finals with a 6-4, 6-4 win against Richard Gasquet, Roger Federer booked his ticket.

Gasquet, who is fresh off winning his 65th title at the Swiss Indoors, proved little trouble for the Swiss phenom. Federer is now 7-1 all time against Gasquet, Despite losing their first meeting five years ago.

Novak Djokovic the defending champion, Britain’s Andy Murray, and Sweden’s Robin Soderling will be Joining Federer in the next round of action. All of these players have currently secured a spot in the ATP World Tour Finals; along with the worlds number 1 player Rafael Nadal.

American Andy Roddick, who dispatched Jarkko Nieminen in simple fashion with a 6-1, 6-4 victory, is currently holding the 8th ranking, and the final qualifier spot for the Tours Finals. To Roddick every game is of importance, with only the top eight players qualifying for the Tour Finals. He could still be derailed while his prospects look good.

Despite a slow start, Djokovic also won his match in Paris. Djokovic managed to stop 7 out of 8 break points on his way to winning the match despite a shaky first serve. With 6-4, 6-3 he topped Juan Monaco. Soderling demolished Gilles Simon, of France in his match.

To a win over a tough David Nalbandian, Andy Murray struggled. Murray seemed to suffer a wrist injury during the match however he would go on to take the match 2-6, 6-4, 6-3 after a short visit with the trainer.

Andy Murray · Andy Roddick · Novak Djokovic · Rafael Nadal · Roger Federer

The Farmers Classic at Los Angeles is the second event of the 2010 US Open Olympus Series. Sports betting star, Andy Murray is the only top 10 ten player to play at this event, which gives the rest of the competitors great chances to earn some points, cash, and momentum at the event.

On Monday July 26, number 5 seed Ernests Gulbis and number 6 seed Janko Tipsarevic both won their first round matches in straight sets. Veteran German Rainer Schuettler won his opening match, as his opponent Horacio Zeballos walked away with an injury. Israeli Dudi Sela took out Xavier Malisse 6-1 4-6 6-3.

On the double’s side, the duo of Arnaud Clement and Johnathan Erlich defeated Travis Parrott and Dusan Vemic 76(8) 6-2. The opening day also featured the final qualifying matches which included winners Somdev Devvarman, Ilija Bozoljac, Tim Smyczek, and wild card American Steve Johnson.

On Tuesday July 27, the singles and doubles action at Los Angeles continued with some great matches from the Americans. Robby Ginepri and Ryan Sweeting were victorious against Kristof Vliegen and Ilja Bozoljac, respectively. James Blake had a solid win over Leonardo Mayer 6-1 6-4. American qualifier Smyczeck took out Gabashvilli 6-2 6-3. Kevin Anderson of South Africa, who reached the semifinals at Atlanta last week, won his first round match 6-3 6-2 over Ilya Marchenko. In the battle between two qualifiers, Indian Somdev Devvarman defeated Steve Johnson 6-4 6-4.

Top seeds Murray, Querrey, Baghdatis, and Lopez were excused from first round matches and got byes into the second round.

Andy Murray · ATP Los Angeles · Ryan Sweeting · Tennis · Travis Parrott

Every year, everywhere  sports fanatics are forced to pick a tournament favorite when the U.S. Open rolls around. The questions are: when it comes to picking the athlete that you feel will come out victorious, where do you stand?

None other than Roger Federer is the number one pick, also the reigning champion for the past 5 years. More than any other male player, He has won 16 Grand Slam single titles. So far this year, Federer has played in four tournaments, with a win at the Australian Open over Briton Andy Murray.

Andy Murray is Giving Roger Federer a run for his money. Earlier this year, at the 2010 Australian Open was defeated by Federer. This defensive, counter-puncher is young, determined and, being recognized as “the first British man to reach more than one Grand Slam final in 72 years”, is going to come out swinging.

To the U.S. Open, Rafael Nadal is no stranger to the game. Nadal, makes a very big threat on the court as he knows that he must come out and give it his all and is also labeled as one of Federer’s top rivals.

Following closely is going to be Novak Djokovic, behind Rafael Nadal. This Serbian native for the first time ever, defended his title at the 2010 Dubai Tennis Championship after winning it in 2009 and also won the Australian Open back in 2008.

And lastly, don’t forget about Andy Roddick. He is not going to go down easily after coming in behind Federer in the U.S. Open for so many years. He did pull of a victory over world #11, Fernando Gonzalez even though he did not win the Australian Open this year.

Andy Murray · Federer · Novak Djokovic · Rafael Nadal