Andy Murray looks to big prize after World Tour finals disappointment

As four of the world’s top five men contested the semi-finals of the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals here yesterday, one player was conspicuous by his absence. Andy Murray’s departure from the tournament following his defeat to Stan Wawrinka may have given the Scot more time to prepare for Britain’s Davis Cup final away to Belgium this week – assuming it goes ahead given the current security issues – but there was no hiding his frustration.

“When I had my opportunity I wasn’t good enough,” Murray said in the wake of his defeat to Wawrinka, who was meeting Roger Federer last night for the prize of a place in today’s final against Novak Djokovic, the world No 1 having beaten Rafael Nadal 6-3 6-3 earlier in the day.

“It was an important week for me and I am just disappointed with the way I played,” Murray reflected. “I feel like I could have done a lot of things better.”

Given the playing surface for the year-end championships and the fact that the event is staged on home soil, it is surprising that Murray does not have a better record here. The Scot has never reached the final.

At least Murray’s disappointment this year will be tempered by the knowledge that his major end-of-season goal is yet to come as he leads the British team in pursuit of their first Davis Cup triumph for 79 years. “Obviously to have something like that just round the corner is good,” Murray said.

Asked what winning the Davis Cup would mean to him, Murray replied: “Doing it with your team, for your country, and with my brother in the team, obviously I would imagine it would mean loads to me. I have put a lot of effort into it this year. The whole team has over the last five or six years. It’s great to have the opportunity, but I’m not getting carried away. I know it’s going to be extremely tough. The turnaround is very, very quick and it’s going to be far from easy.”

Meanwhile the International Tennis Federation voiced its concerns about the raised terror alert level in Brussels, which is only 35 miles from Ghent, but said that preparations for next weekend’s final were going ahead. Ghent’s football team played a home match on Friday night and a six-day cycling event has been taking place in the city all week.

Nadal was on his bike last night after being soundly beaten by Djokovic, whose victory was even more convincing than the scoreline might have indicated. There were times when the Serb toyed with the Spa-niard as he played exquisite drop shots followed by killer lobs. Nadal appeared a little lethargic, though he denied feeling the effects of his marathon victory over David Ferrer 24 hours earlier.

Djokovic raced into a 3-0 lead, dropping only four points in the process, before taking the opening set in just 34 minutes. The world No 1 broke again in the fifth game of the second set after Nadal put a tame backhand wide and secured victory with his third break of the match, winning the last two points with thumping backhands. The Serb’s serve was as emphatic. Nadal did not have a break point all match.

In the Open era no two players have played each other more often than Djokovic and Nadal, whose head-to-head record now stands at 23 wins apiece. Only two players in the top 100 have a winning head-to-head record against Nadal: the dreadlocked Dustin Brown, who has won their two meetings (both on grass), and Nick Kyrgios, who beat Nadal at Wimbledon in their only meeting last summer.

Djokovic is through to his 15th successive final. If he wins the tournament today, for the fourth year in a row, he will have claimed 11 titles in the season, which would beat his haul from 2011.

In the wake of his eighth defeat in his last nine meetings with Djokovic, Nadal said the Serb was “almost unbeatable” at the moment. Asked what it was that made him so difficult an opponent, the Spaniard said: “Everything. His hitting is amazing. His returns are always amazing. This year he is serving great.

“He makes no mistakes, changes direction so easily and hits so, so deep. He’s doing everything well. He was better than me and he deserved to do what he did during the whole season. He played just fantastic.”

Nadal added with a smile: “When somebody’s doing like this, the only thing I can do is congratulate him and just wish him not the best of luck for the next year.”