Andy Murray hails ‘great reception’ after London offers a hero’s welcome to World No1 at the O2

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Eleanor Crooks15 November 2016

A hero's welcome helped Andy Murray make a winning start to life as world number one at the ATP World Tour Finals.

Playing his first match since officially ascending to the top of the standings last Monday, Murray was an ultimately convincing 6-3 6-2 winner over Marin Cilic.

London's O2 Arena has often scarcely felt like a home event for the Scot such is the international nature of the crowd but there was no mistaking who the favourite was this time.

A packed arena was on its feet before Murray walked onto court, giving the 29-year-old an extra spring in his step.

He said: "It was a great reception, obviously. A really, really good atmosphere tonight. It was obviously nice to play in that stadium with the crowd like that.

"After a long few months, it's nice to know that I'm going to be finishing the year playing in that sort of atmosphere. It helps you get up for the matches a bit more."

The victory made it 20 in a row for the Scot, who needs to match Novak Djokovic's performance this week to ensure he holds onto top spot until the end of the year.

Djokovic won his opening match against Dominic Thiem on Sunday and Murray knew he could not afford any slip-ups.

In Pictures | Andy Murray

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A tally of two winners and 14 unforced errors in the opening set was hardly world-leading stuff but it was good enough for Cilic, whose garish shorts were more memorable than his shots.

By the end, Murray was playing some fine tennis - and victory over Kei Nishikori on Wednesday would very likely be enough for a first semi-final appearance here since 2012.

It would have been understandable if Murray had felt a few more nerves than usual but he put his early troubles down to the conditions.

"It's one of the things that can be tricky in a group stage, because you have that feeling a little bit like you can afford to lose a match, which is never really the case," said the Wimbledon champion, who has now won 46 of his last 49 matches.

"I didn't feel any more nervous than usual. It's just quite different conditions in there than what we've been practising in. It's a lot slower than it has been.

Photo: Clive Brunskill/Getty Images
Clive Brunskill/Getty Images

"Obviously playing with a packed crowd, it changes things a bit. I think maybe some of the errors at the beginning were more getting used to playing in new surroundings again."

In the earlier match, Stan Wawrinka's hopes both of finishing the year ranked three and of reaching a fourth straight semi-final at the O2 were dealt a major blow by a 6-2 6-3 defeat to Nishikori.

Milos Raonic is now in pole position to be best of the rest, and the Canadian should provide a good test of Djokovic's form on Tuesday night.

Earlier, debutants Gael Monfils and Thiem clash, while Jamie Murray and Bruno Soares will bid for a second victory of the doubles tournament against Bob and Mike Bryan.

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