Federer Hammers Murray, Soderling Defeated Ferrer

World No. 2 Roger Federer of Switzerland has hammered Britain's No. 1 Andy Murray in the second round-robin match at the ATP World Tour finals in London. The straight-set victory sends the Swiss a step closer to the semi-finals of the season-ending finale. Our London correspondent Tu Yun has more.

It was really an easy win for Federer, which was somewhat unexpected given the Swiss lost to the Scot in straight sets in their latest encounters in the Masters finals in Toronto and Shanghai.

Federer explains why.

"He just got off to a bad start with his serve, never really found it. That's what happens in best-of-three set matches. Those matches are over in a hurry and you don't know what happened."

Murray started slow and was broken early in both sets. Federer won 6-4, 6-2. Murray will have to beat Spaniard David Ferrer in the next match in order to stay in the tournament.

"I think I still feel like I'm hitting the ball fine from the back f the court. It was just serving and returning that needs to improve a lot before the next match."

In another round-robin match of Group B, fourth-seeded Swedish Robin Soderling defeated seventh-ranked Ferrer in straight sets, 7-5, 7-5.

"I served very well, especially in the first set. But it was tough. It was a close match, two really tough sets. I'm lucky that I won. I still feel that I have a lot of things that I can improve. Hopefully I can do that in one or two days time and play a good match in the next match."

Soderling will have to defeat Federer in their next meeting to secure a place in the semi-finals. Ferrer technically still has a chance if he beats Murray and Soderling loses to Federer.

[On the same day, World No. 1 Spain's Rafael Nadal was awarded the Stefan Edberg Sportsmanship award, voted on by his fellow players.]

For CRI, I'm Tu Yun reporting from London.