NO wonder the tournament organisers pulled out all the stops to ensure Andy Murray took part in the ATP Tour finals this year. It wasn't so long ago that the 28-year-old was enigmatically describing his very participation in this glamour end of season event at the o2 as a "question mark", citing the example of last year, when Roger Federer withdrew from the final, as evidence of the toll these punishing late-season matches can take on a weary body, and correctly pointing out that alternating between hard court play and clay court practice in a bubble at Queen's Club was hardly ideal preparation for his date with destiny in the Davis Cup next weekend.

But Chris Kermode, his friend and the tournament organiser, managed to talk him round and if the 28-year-old was at all reluctant or conflicted when he began his campaign against David Ferrer yesterday afternoon, he was doing an expert job in disguising it. There are differing opinions as to whether a long run in this tournament is in the Scot's best interests or not as he prioritises the likely challenge of playing three rubbers in three days in Ghent next weekend but on the evidence of this 6-4, 6-4 victory against the Spanish No 7 seed he may still be here at the weekend. As awkward as the timing is for the Scot, who feels post-operation that his back requires more time to adjust between surfaces, Ferrer was unable to inconvenience him too much out here.

While Murray usually excels on home soil, this tournament must be the exception which proves the rule. His last competitive match here, 12 months previously, resulted in the heaviest tour-level defeat of his career, 6-0, 6-1, to Roger Federer. Compared to his exploits at Wimbledon and Queen's Club, he has won just seven and lost eight of his matches here, and captured no titles. A favourable draw, though, which has kept him apart from Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer, has opened things up, and after extensive re-jigging of his schedule to keep him fresher going in to the end of his season, Murray now feels that mixing it with the best players in the world could yet prove ideal preparation.

"If I didn't play here, I would have gone three weeks or something without playing a match before the Davis Cup Final," said Murray. "Obviously it's a different surface here, but playing matches against the best players in the world is also fantastic preparation.

"I've totally changed my schedule and the way I've trained over the last two months to make sure I am fresh for this part of the season, which hasn't always been the case," he added. "Last year I came in probably not feeling my best after playing six weeks in a row. I've only played two tournaments in the last seven or eight weeks really. So I feel good just now. Hopefully I can perform well here and in Belgium. I believe that I've given myself the best chance to do that."

While Ferrer, known as the Little Beast, is a wily, veteran campaigner who was his usual stubborn self, the main reason why he was unable to extend the Scot resided in a severe malfunction with his ball toss. The Spaniard has thrown the ball erratically in pressure situations all year and the eight double faults he served here encouraged Murray, not least the one which gave him the first set 6-4 after four break points on the Ferrer serve had come and gone.

Expectations were that the first set would prove crucial and so it proved. In 102 previous matches this year, neither man had lost after winning the first set and now you can make it 103. Ferrer was actually a break to the good before a spell of clean, sustained ball-striking from Murray restored parity at 3-3. With Murray drop-shotting and venturing into the net frequently, when he put one last smash away the match was his, all over and done with in 90 minutes. A philosophical Murray afterwards said his back was feeling fine, chiding himself only for a failure to return more efficiently.

"In the first couple of games my timing was a little bit off," said Murray, watched yesterday by his pregnant wife Kim, who is due in February. "But I got it back pretty quickly, which was pleasing. He obviously served a bunch of double-faults, which helped. But my returns were a little bit off today, especially on the second serve. That was the one thing - obviously the ball's coming through a little bit quicker and slightly lower than on the clay."

It all means that one more win here, regardless of what Roger Federer does, will secure him as year-end No 2 for the first time in his career. Typically, the Scot sees that as a means rather than an end. "You know, it would be obviously nice to finish No. 2 because I haven't done it before, but it's not a goal I'd set for myself at the beginning of this year or throughout the whole year really," he said. "But obviously for Australia, being seeded 2 is slightly better than being seeded 3 or 4."