Nishikori beats errorprone Federer in ATP Finals
LONDON: Roger Federer’s hopes of winning a seventh ATP Finals title suffered a blow as Kei Nishikori stunned the Swiss great 76 (4), 63 in their roundrobin opener yesterday.
The 37yearold’s usually smooth game began to fray near the end of the first set and fell apart in an errorstrewn second.
Unsurprisingly the match ended with a Federer mishit, his 34th unforced error in a scrappy display.
Nishikori went 61 ahead in the first set tiebreak and although Federer clawed back to 64, a forehand into the net allowed the Japanese to take the opener.
Federer, who had qualified for the seasonender for the 16th time, cut a disgruntled figure at times and was even given a warning for swiping a ball high into the stands in the opener.
Nishikori, twice a semifinalist in London, grew in confidence and broke in the sixth game of the second set for a 42 lead when Federer was left flatfooted.
Serving at 53, Nishikori held serve easily to join Kevin Anderson at the top of the Lleyton Hewitt group.
New Zealand tennis player Michael Venus and his South African partner Raven Klaasen were beaten in their opening doubles match.
The sixth seeds were beaten 76, (5) 46, 105 by fourth seeds Jamie Murray and Bruno Soares.
AVenus and Klaasen converted just three of nine breakpoint chances in the match. Their opponents won two of five but played the tiebreakers better. The roundrobin format means Venus and Klaasen are still in the running to make the semifinals. They have two more matches against second seeds Juan Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah of Colombia, and seventhseeded Croatian Nikola Mektic and Austrian Alexander Peya.
The top two teams in each group advance to the semifinals.
It is a lucrative end to the season for Venus who has earned $US543,000 ($NZ808,800)in prize money after reaching the final at Wimbledon and the Toronto Masters 1000 tournament.
Each pair earn $US100,000 as an appearance fee in London with $US38,000 for each roundrobin win. A semifinal win would earn $US103,000 and winning the final $200,000. — Reuters/RNZ