Murray played well today and desreved his victory. It's quite amazing how many times he was able to keep getting the ball back. This is a quality that he's probably on a par with Rafa, though Rafa can perhaps turn defense into offense slightly more often.

To his credit Soderling upped his level in the 2nd set and did the right thing in being more aggressive and reallly took the game to Murray. His net play really let him down and this was partly due to Andy's passing shots always coming down low forcing him to always try for the drop volley. Obviously vollyeing is not a big attribute of his game and this match really emphasied that part of his game that he need to work on.

Sky's commentators pointed out the slowless of the court (in comparison to Paris) and this was a big factor as Robin's forehand approach shots didn't quite carry the force needed which gave Andy more time to make the passing shots.

I look forward to tonight's Federer-Ferrer match, although David will be typically tenacious, Fed should prevail in straight sets.

On another note, the presentation for Moya was nicely handled and good to see Rafa taking to the mic . A funny moment too as he apologised to the crowd for going back to speaking Spanish when giving praise.

Brillant performance by Andy.

Really enjoyed murray's play today... he's looking good again

Sod not serving well today has contributed to this defeat. Perhaps he needs more time to get use to the court.

I think Sod employed the wrong tactics today against Murray. How could he rush the net without choosing the right moments to do so, knowing how good Murray's passing shots were!
If Sod'a big serves are firing well, he at least could try his big serves big forehand combination to earn some cheap points and maybe tried to blow Murray off the court at times. Once his serves failed him, Sod would fare badly, we saw that too during his USO match against Fed.

lebsta2, good analysis. all cred to murray. he was really solid overall. first set was superb. credits to murray for hanging in there in the second when söderling was forcing him to run copiously. fatigue even made him make some unforced errors. then when murray instead broke it was all over.

söderling was down for two whole days with food poisoning coming into london. too bad he tried those stinky fish n' chips. there's no way you can beat top players with that kind of prelude...

söderling was utterly gutted by his poor performance. perhaps this can motivate him against federer. it's difficult enough as it is. but question is if he will be back on top physically after being sick.

Poor Sod certainly has a weak stomach, always getting food poisoning. Hope he does better against Fed. I hope there will be close fights in this group and not an overwhelming two favorites all the way. Likewise for the other group too!

overall, murray won 75% of points when he got his first serves in.

in the first he had a great percentage of first serves in, but it dropped, as it usually does, in the second...

luckystar, i am afraid this group will not be exciting as we thought... only thing i can think of is that ferrer is a bad match up for murray, but that söderling may well beat ferrer...

Oh right, stomach bug excuse now.
Andy showed how to beat Sod, which is to move him around and break up his rhythm by making him come to the net, which he hates. Andy missed some drop shots but they had the right effect. Sod cannot volley to save his life. It was a brilliant tactical match.
BTW Andy said in interview the ATP has agreed a 7 week break from 2012.

Adam Helfant was on yesterday after the match on SKY and spoke about the extra 2 weeks off for the players, but there is a sting in the tail; from 2012 the WTF will follow Paris the very next day, how will that help the players? I can see the players who don't need the points boycotting Paris because of 'injury'.

No excuses Mr Sod, because you never accepted that you only beat Rafa when he wasn't 100% fit physically and mentally. So take your defeat with grace, because I don't believe you would have beaten Murray anyway, whether you had food poisoning or not, because you are not in his class.

I've said it before, Sod without his serve might as well not turn up.

murray didn't at all force söderling to move around, it was rather the other way around. but murray moves 100 times better so he's okay with that. he's a brilliant counter puncher. and his shots are difficult to read so he got many winners.

i agree murray did a tactically perfect match. forcing söderling to come to the net and then give him a low volley, it worked all the time...

I cant remember the last time I saw Andy playing with such confidence. And he remained cool-headed even when Sod upped his level in the 2nd set. It was Sod who let the situation get to him.

Murray played so well...it was one of those days when everything worked well for Andy...he deserved to win...he chased down every ball Sod sent and to be honest I did not see Sod being sick, it was rather that his serve sucks and then he makes no way near his good performance...this Andy will easily beat yesterday's Federer...

of course söderling wasn't sick during the match, that was several days ago. it's just a very bad preparation for the tournament that's all.

I thought Fed played well yesterday mixing his variety of shots so well that made Ferrer looked confused. I know Murray is much better than Ferrer with his counter punching style of play, still Fed is not Sod, and he moves hundred times better than Sod. I don't think Murray can beat Fed easily, as I think that Murray of the Shanghai final was still better than this Murray.

lucky: I dont think in all fairness you can compare any player's performance in an important final with that same player's performance in the opening round of a subsequent tournament. The RR format does however favour those who can get off to a flying start. I would say Murray did just that and more.