Nishikori beats Murray on ATP Finals debut

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Murray, who returns to the season-ending showpiece at the O2 Arena after missing last season's event due to back surgery, headed into the match in fine form having won titles in Shenzhen, Vienna and Valencia over the last six weeks.

However, US Open finalist Nishikori - who had previously never beaten Murray - recovered from a slow start to execute a perfect plan, varying his game with strong forehand strokes and coming to the net when required to ensure he started with a Group B win in London.

Murray looked to dictate the early exchanges and showed aggression from the baseline, a tactic that brought up break point on Nishikori's serve at 1-1, but he was unable to convert.

The Scot made no mistake in Nishikori's next service game as he created three break-point chances when the Japanese netted after a long rally and, though he staved off the first two, he double faulted to hand Murray a 3-2 lead.

Murray's form dipped in the next game, though, and a double fault of his own when serving at 0-40 handed the break straight back, much to his frustration.

The momentum continued to shift when Nishikori earned two set points with Murray serving at 5-4 and, although he failed to take the first, a poor drop shot from Murray brought an end to the opener.

Having been blighted by 16 unforced errors in the first set, Murray was left reeling as Nishikori raced into a 3-0 second-set lead.

Nishikori came agonisingly close to a 4-0 advantage and saw three break points go begging in a mammoth game lasting almost 10 minutes in which both players produced some magnificent tennis.

With that opportunity missed, Murray took advantage by earning the break back to trail 3-4 thanks to a Nishikori error at the net, before holding to level the set.

Nishikori remained the better player, though, and once more put Murray more under pressure when serving to stay in the match at 5-4.

Murray netted at 15-30 to present two match points to Nishikori and a long backhand from the 27-year-old proved the final point of the match.

All is not lost for Murray as he has two round-robin matches remaining against Roger Federer and Milos Raonic.

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