Andy Murray to face Roger Federer in ATP Finals group

Andy Murray will play world number two Roger Federer in the round-robin stage of the ATP World Tour Finals in London, which start on Sunday.

The British number one will face Federer, Robin Soderling and David Ferrer in Group B, with the top two making the semi-finals.

World number one Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic, Tomas Berdych and Andy Roddick make up Group A.

Murray will play Soderling in the opening match at 1400 GMT on Sunday.

Federer will take on Ferrer at 2000 GMT, while Monday's schedule sees Djokovic against Berdych at 1400 GMT, with Nadal and Roddick playing the late match.
"It's an incredible atmosphere, a huge arena and it's one of the biggest competitions in tennis behind the Grand Slams, so I'm really looking forward to it," Murray told his website.

"The last couple of weeks weren't as good as I'd have liked, although I actually won my first doubles competition with my brother, which was cool, but playing in front of a home crowd is always great.

"It would be a big one psychologically to win, so I'll give it my best shot."

The eight finalists paid a visit to Downing Street on Thursday when Prime Minister David Cameron hosted a reception for the players.

"It's fantastic that the ATP World Tour Finals tournament is back in London for the second year running," said Mr Cameron. "It's great for London and great for the country.

"I hope that seeing the world's top players compete right on our doorstep, including Britain's very own Andy Murray, will inspire our next generation of sporting heroes."
Murray said: "It's the second time I've been here. He (Mr Cameron) likes tennis, which we knew beforehand. We spoke about tennis and some of the past players. It was good fun, I really enjoyed it."

Murray slipped one place in the latest world rankings on Monday when he was passed by Sweden's Soderling, which left open the possibility that he would be drawn in the same group in London as 2008 champion and world number three Djokovic.

The 23-year-old Scot will be relieved to have avoided the Serb, although it is arguable whether the in-form Soderling will prove any less testing an opponent.

There will be an extra edge to the group matches as Djokovic, Soderling and Murray are all in with a chance of finishing the year as the world number three.

Murray was ranked third earlier this year, and before Monday had spent only three weeks outside the top four since September 2008, but defeat by Gael Monfils in the quarter-finals in Paris last week opened the door for Soderling to grab fourth spot by winning the tournament, and with it his first Masters title.
The Briton won two of his three group matches at the O2 last year but still failed to qualify as he was edged out on the percentage of games won by eventual runner-up Juan Martin del Potro.

Tournament organisers have pledged to improve the method of communication to both spectators and players this year following considerable confusion during the final round of group matches 12 months ago.

The world's top eight doubles pairings will also be in action, with Group A featuring Bob and Mike Bryan, Lukas Dlouhy and Leander Paes, Mariusz Fyrstenberg and Marcin Matkowski, and Jurgen Melzer and Philipp Petzschner.

Daniel Nestor and Nenad Zimonjic, Lukasz Kubot and Oliver Marach, Mahesh Bhupathi and Max Mirnyi, and Wesley Moodie and Dick Norman make up Group B.