Federer eases past Thiem – but wary of tough Anderson test

Roger Federer bounced back from his openingday shocker against Nishikori by sweeping aside Dominic Thiem at the ATP Finals in London last night.

Federer knew anything other than a victory would see him fail to qualify from the group stage for only the second time in 16 appearances at the Finals.

The 37-year-old sixtime winner grabbed a break in the third game against a nervous-looking Thiem, and a second for 5-2 on his way to taking the first set.

Thiem, who also lost his first match to Kevin Anderson, dropped serve at the start of the second set and again at the end as Federer completed a 6-2 6-3 victory in an hour and six minutes.

He will now face Anderson tomorrow, with Thiem taking on Nishikori, and qualification for the semifinals still possible for all four players.

Federer said: “It feels good, I’m very happy I showed a reaction after the last match against Kei.

“No match is easy here and it’s not something I’m used to, losing and then coming back and playing again, but it’s a great challenge and I’m happy with my attitude and how I played. It was good fun.

“Today I was more positive, more happy on the court and I reminded myself what a privilege it is to play here at the 02.”

As if his fearsome display this afternoon was not enough to make Federer wary, Anderson also ended the Swiss star’s hopes of a ninth Wimbledon title earlier this year.

“I hope it’s not a match like Kevin played this afternoon,” added Federer.

“It’s never easy to play against him, especially indoors. He deserved that win at Wimbledon but hopefully I’ll get my revenge.”

Anderson had earlier underlined his credentials as the man most likely to challenge Novak Djokovic at this year’s Finals with a brutal destruction of Kei Nishikori.

Japanese world No 9 Nishikori was on cloud nine after stunning Federer in their opening round-robin match on Sunday, but he was brought crashing back down to earth by debutant Anderson.

Nishikori was staring down the barrel of the ultimate humiliation, and only the second 6-0 6-0 defeat in the history of the Finals, following a ruthless display by the South African.

Yet at 6-0 5-0, after less than an hour, the 28-yearold finally managed to string four serves together to get on the scoreboard and avoid the dreaded ‘double bagel’.

It only delayed the inevitable, though, as Anderson duly served out for a 6-0 6-1 victory in 63 hopelessly one-sided minutes.

Scot Jamie Murray and Brazilian partner Bruno Soares clinched their place in the semi-finals of the doubles.

They ran out 6-4 6-3 winners against Colombian duo Juan Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah.