British number one Andy Murray insists he doesn't feel under pressure to deliver a home triumph in the ATP World Tour Finals in London.

Murray kicked off his bid to win the prestigious end-of-year event with a gritty 6-3, 3-6, 6-2 victory over US Open champion Juan Martin del Potro in the opening match of the eight-man tournament on Sunday.

Although Murray has won six ATP titles this year, he is still waiting for his first grand slam victory, so success in the Tour Finals would provide a persuasive riposte to the critics who have questioned his ability to win the biggest tournaments.

But the world number four is well versed in the extra expectations that come with playing on home turf after several years competing at Wimbledon, and he has no intention of letting anything distract him from the task at hand.

"I don't think there's any more pressure on me. It's just different to Wimbledon," Murray said.

"Obviously, there's no kind of build-up to this event, whereas with Wimbledon there's a good two weeks where you've got Queen's and then the week before, which makes it a little bit more difficult."

Murray's next Group A match will be against either world number one Roger Federer or Spain's Fernando Verdasco and he knows another win would put him on the brink of reaching the semifinals.

"You've got to win two matches out of the three to give yourself a chance of reaching the semi-finals," he said.

"I could still win two and not go through. But if I can win that one, I put myself in a good position."

Murray has only just recovered from a wrist injury but, while he never hit top gear against Del Potro, the Scot showed enough cunning and determination to suggest he is in the mood to finish his season in style.

The vocal support of 17 500 fans at the O2 Arena won't do him any harm either. While the crowd on Sunday were never in danger of raising the roof on the indoor arena, Murray was impressed enough with the atmosphere and expects even better for his second Group A match.

"The start of the match was great. When I got close to winning at the end of the match, the atmosphere was excellent. That's going a make a big difference going into the next couple of matches," he said.

"I think I'll probably play the night match on Tuesday and it will be a great atmosphere again.

"It is different, being obviously indoors, having a big screen on the court and music playing. Obviously a completely different atmosphere to Wimbledon.

"There's not so much interaction with the crowd but the atmosphere was excellent.

"You can't see the crowd when you're on the court it's so dark but you obviously hear them.

"It happens at a lot of the indoor events because they have the lighting right at the end of the court and it's dark in the back. It's obviously to help with keeping the focus on the court."

AFP