ATP Finals: Goffin Shocks Federer in London

David. Goffin shocked Roger Federer yesterday, coming back from a set down to eliminate the second seed and pick up his first win against Federer, 2-6, 6-3, 6-4. Goffin, who qualified for the season finale for the first time, will play for the biggest title of his career today. The Belgian has won four ATP World Tour crowns, including an ATP World Tour 500-level title at the Rakuten Japan Open Tennis Championships 2017 last month. But the 26-year-old had never reached a bigger title match, either at an ATP World Tour Masters 1000 event, a Grand Slam or the Nitto ATP Finals. TOday, Goffin will meet Bul- garian Grigor Dimitrov who beat American Jack Sock 4-6 6-0 6-3. “For the first time I played my best tennis, and I played a little bit more relaxed after the first set. I started to feel the ball really well for the first time, and continued to serve and played my best tennis today,” Goffin said. The Belgian is 1-4 against Dimitrov in their FedEx ATP Head2Head series. Regardless of today’s result, though, this has already been the best week of Goffin’s career. He started his stay at The O2 by celebrating his biggest win by ranking, a 7-6(5), 6-7(4), 6-4 upset against World No. 1 Rafael Nadal. Goffin then had a blip, falling to Dimitrov in only 75 minutes. But he rallied on Friday to beat Dominic Thiem in straight sets and qualify for the semi-finals, and Goffin again summoned his best tennis to beat Federer. Goffin becomes the first player to beat the Top 2 players at the Nitto ATP Finals since 2009, when champion Nikolay Davydenko beat No. 2 Nadal in group play and No. 1 Federer in the semi-finals. Goffin is the sixth player ever to beat Nadal and Federer in the same tournament and the first since Novak Djokovic at the 2015 Nitto ATP Finals.

“Both are really special. It was the first time against Rafa. Then the semi-final for the first time for me here, and to beat Roger for the first time here in such a big event, big tournament, it was the perfect moment,” Goffin said.