Federer's wounded pride keeps Murray on mettle

The Chinese respect wounded tigers, which is why Andy Murray will beware Roger Federer when he takes on the game's former top cat at the Masters Cup here today. The defending champion has had a sore back and a dodgy stomach, though it could be the potential hurt to his pride that will drive him forward.

Federer has already lost his world No 1 ranking and Australian Open and Wimbledon crowns this year and his defeat to Gilles Simon in his opening round-robin match here was his 14th of the season, equalling his combined number of losses in 2006 and 2007. He must beat Murray to progress to the last four, irrespective of Simon's result against Radek Stepanek in today's first match.

Despite the fact that Murray has already qualified for tomorrow's semi-finals, he has plenty of incentives to beat Federer, not least the prospect of preserving his chance of claiming the $1.34m (nearly £900,000) prize for winning the tournament without losing a match. Victory would also mean avoiding Novak Djokovic in the semi-finals – instead Murray would play Nikolay Davydenko, a 6-3, 6-2 winner over Juan Martin del Potro yesterday – and rule out the possibility of meeting Federer again in the final.

This will be their fourth meeting this year. Murray won in the first round in Dubai, when Federer was recovering from glandular fever, lost in straight sets in the US Open final and won last month in the semi-finals in Madrid. "I do have a good record against him, but each time I play him he's still the favourite," Murray said. "He beat me very easily at the US Open, when he played his best. I need to make sure every time I play him, I play really well. If I don't, I'm going to lose."

Federer says the medium-paced court at the Qi Zhong Stadium does not necessarily favour him. "I would still like to see it play a little bit faster, especially against guys like Andy, who defend so well. It's obviously hard to get the balls past them, so you have to outmanoeuvre them."

Judy Murray, Andy's mother, believes that comments Federer made earlier this year may have prompted the British No 1 to adopt a more aggressive style. After losing to the Scot in Dubai, Federer said he was surprised Murray had made few changes to his game since their first meeting three years ago. "He's going to have to grind very hard for the next few years if he's going to keep playing this way," Federer said. "He stands way back. He tends to wait a lot for his opponent to make a mistake. Over a 15-year career, you want to look to win a point more often than wait for the other guy to miss."

When reminded of those comments, Federer said: "It was a compliment on the highest of levels. Andy can play aggressively, but he doesn't choose to do it. I guess it's a good option to have."