Goffin to face Federer after dominating Dominic in ATP Finals

DAVID GOFFIN recovered from a slow start to beat Austrian Dominic Thiem 6-4, 6-1 yesterday and set up a last-four clash with Roger Federer at the ATP Finals.

Belgian Goffin thrashed by Grigor Dimitrov two days ago, appeared to be feeling the effects of that mauling as he went 3-0 down with a whimper, but came alive to win 15 points in a row during a first-set comeback.

Thiem looked disinterested at the start of the second set and quickly went 4- 1 down. There was some brief resistance in a 10-minute sixth game but Goffin held and claimed victory on his second match point with a searing backhand winner.

A scrappy contest saw Thiem rack up 27 unforced errors to Gof- fin’s 20, with the combined winner count only 21.

Goffin’s victory means three of the four players who had qualified for the elite tournament for the first time have progressed from the round-robin stage. The other semi-final will pit Dimitrov against American Jack Sock.

In last night’s late match Dimitrov was up against alternate Pablo Carreno Busta of Spain but this was academic apart from the prize money and ranking points available

Meanwhile in his ATP Finals debut, Sock, the first American to reach the final weekend at the season-ending tournament since Andy Roddick in 2007, beat Alexander Zverev 6-4, 1-6, 6-4 late on Thursday to advance from the round-robin.

Sock again played an entertaining match at the O2 Arena, complete with another ’tweener and even a point penalty for smashing a ball into the crowd.

But it was a pair of errors from Zverev in the final game that gave Sock the match. Trailing 5-4 and at 30-all, Zverev double-faulted for the seventh time to hand Sock a match point. The 20-year-old German then put a forehand wide to end it.

Sock finished the group stage with a 2-1 record. His only loss came against Federer in his opening match.

Federer ended up 3-0 and won the group.

In a rematch of the Wimbledon final against Marin Cilic earlier, Federer came out on top again. The second-ranked Swiss lost the first set but still won 6-7 (5), 6-4, 6-1.

“It wasn’t easy,” Federer said. “I mean, look, it’s a fast court. It’s indoors. We’ve seen it now: When you miss a few too many opportunities you can really pay the price at this tournament.”

The outcome didn’t really matter, though. Federer had already advanced while Cilic had already been eliminated.

Federer, who beat Cilic in straight sets in the Wimbledon final in July, had four break points in the first set on Thursday, but he couldn’t convert any of them. That allowed Cilic to take the lead when he landed a backhand drop shot and then a forehand to close out the first-set tiebreaker.

Federer had another break point early in the second set, but he again failed to convert. But his sixth attempt was different, and winning it gave Federer the second set.

In the third set, Federer broke early and jumped out to 3-0, and then broke again to lead 5-1.

“In the beginning I was slightly overaggressive in the first set on some crucial points rather than maybe being patient,” Federer said. “I was able to turn that around late in the second set.

“Then just had a much better feeling in the third set.” – AP and Reuters