Tsitsipas beats Federer to reach London final

Tennis

Stefanos Tsitsipas kept his nerve in the key moments to beat sixtime champion Roger Federer 63, 6-4 yesterday and reach the final of the season-ending ATP Finals.

Tsitsipas saved 11 of 12 break points and took advantage of an error-filled performance from Federer – who continually put his opponent under pressure only to come up short when it mattered.

The Greek player next faces defending champion Alexander Zverev or Dominic Thiem who were meeting in the other semifinal last night.

Tsitsipas, who is making his first appearance at the event, saved all six break points he faced in the first set. That included two at 5-3, when he needed seven set points before finally winning a marathon game.

He broke again for a 2-1 lead in the second, then saved three break points from 0-40 in the next game before Federer finally converted his fourth to level the set.

But the 21-year-old Tsitsipas broke again straight away with a forehand winner and then saved two more break points from 15-40 down when serving for the match at 5-4.

He didn’t give the 38-year-old Federer any more chances of a comeback, serving out the match with an ace.

The 17-year age gap between the two players was the largest in the history of the tournament.

For Federer, it was a surprisingly erratic performance after he played near-flawless tennis to beat Novak Djokovic in straight sets on Thursday to reach the semifinals.

Tsitsipas was coming off a three-set loss to Rafael Nadal in his last round-robin match on Friday but showed no sign of fatigue.

Reaching the final is another milestone in a breakthrough season after he also beat Federer on the way to the Australian Open semifinals.