Federer Beats Murray at ATP Finals to Clinch Year-End Top Spot

Nov. 24 (Bloomberg) -- Roger Federer beat Andy Murray at the ATP World Tour Finals to ensure he’ll be the top-ranked tennis player at the end of the year for the fifth time.

Federer won the group-stage match 3-6 6-3, 6-1 at the O2 arena in London. The end-of-season event is being held in the U.K. capital for the first time in its 40-year history.

The Swiss right-hander, who became the first man to win 15 Grand Slam singles titles when he beat Andy Roddick at Wimbledon in July, widened his lead in the ATP World Tour rankings to 1,145 points over No. 2 Rafael Nadal by defeating Fernando Verdasco in his first match in Group A.

Pete Sampras and Jimmy Connors are the only other players since the rankings were introduced in 1973 to have been No. 1 at the end of the year five or more times.

The 28-year-old Federer is the first player since Ivan Lendl in 1989 to reclaim the year-end No. 1 ranking after losing it the previous year. Nadal, who started the London tournament with a straight-set loss to Sweden’s Robin Soderling, led the rankings at the start of 2009.

To contact the reporter responsible for this story: Danielle Rossingh at the O2 arena through the London sports desk at drossingh@bloomberg.net