Sock and Federer advance to semifinals
LONDON — In his ATP Finals debut, Jack Sock joined Roger Federer in the semifinals.
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 to advance from his round-robin group on Thursday.
“I didn’t expect to be in London in the first place,” said Sock, who qualified only this month after winning the Paris Masters. “Paris was a big step for me. Now to put myself in the position to play on the weekend is another big step forward, another confidence-booster.”
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 eighth time to hand Sock a match point. The 20-year-old German then put a forehand wide to end it.
“Yeah, I choked,” Zverev said. “It’s quite easy. Won the second set 6-1. I was 1-0 with a break. He got a point penalty. I was down 1-4 within 10 minutes where I didn’t put many balls in the court.”
Sock finished the group stage with a 2-1 record and will next face Grigor Dimitrov in the semifinals on Saturday. His only loss came against Federer in his opening match.
Federer ended up 3-0 and won the group. He will face Dominic Thiem or David Goffin on Saturday.
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.