Andy Murray's former coach Mark Petchey has claimed that Roger Federer thoroughly deserved his win over the Scot in the semi-finals of the Cincinnati Open.
The aggressive Federer won 6-4 7-6 to set up a final with world number one Novak Djokovic, and Petchey was impressed with the power of the 34-year-old.
He told Sky Sports News: "The better player won out there. The guy that turned up today with a little bit more power on his groundstrokes and that got him over the finish line.
"The first point of the match really set the tone of it. This is the perfect point for him [Murray] to say to Roger 'I'm coming at you, I've lost the last eight sets; I've got to do something different.'
"He's got options here and what does he do? He throws it back into the middle of the court and a couple of shots later he's lost the point. Federer was fearless right from the start really early on and Andy wasn't getting any free points. He had it all going on and Andy's left guessing."
The loss was Murray's fifth straight defeat to Federer.
Charlie Bennett
