FEDERER BEATS BERRETTINI TO GET HIS ATP FINALS BID BACK ON TRACK
▶ After losing opening match in London to Thiem, Swiss star earns straight sets win over Italian
Roger Federer kept alive his hopes of progressing from his ATP Finals group yesterday with a 7-6, 6-3 win over Matteo Berrettini at London’s O2 Arena.
Federer, a six-time champion at the season-ending tournament, was looking to bounce back from his opening straight sets loss to Dominic Thiem, and while the 20-time grand slam winner still appeared below his best, he did enough to beat the Italian debutant.
“It’s unusual to lose and then come back to play again, but I did it last year, so I have some experience,” Federer said.
“I’m very happy with how I played today.
“Matteo was always going to be difficult with his big serve if you don’t get the read and you don’t get the balls back to where you’re hoping to or you’re going to be in trouble.
“I was pretty clean in my own service games and I think that helped today. I hope I can keep it up and maybe even play a bit better in the next match.”
Indeed, both players were solid on serve in the first set, with Federer and debutant Berrettini struggling to make inroads in each other’s service games.
Berrettini had taken just five games off Federer in their only previous meeting, a chastening three-set defeat at Wimbledon earlier this year.
The 38-year-old eventually earned himself a chance in the 12th game, winning the first break point of the match but Berrettini snuffed out the danger and held to take it into a tiebreak.
Federer upped the level of his game in the shootout, helped by some wayward shots from his opponent plus a Berrettini double-fault and won it comfortably 7-2.
The Swiss, clad in black, broke immediately at the start of the second set to leave the Italian with a mountain to climb.
Berrettini earned a clutch of break points in the eighth game but Federer eventually served himself out of trouble.
Federer, as usual enjoying the lion’s share of support from the crowd, broke in the next game to seal the set 6-3. The 20-time grand slam champion said he had remained calm and tried to stay positive after the Thiem defeat in Group Bjorn Borg.
“There’s no reason to be too down on yourself,” Federer, who has failed to reach the semi-finals at the tournament only once in 16 previous appearances, said. “We came here to play three matches and give it all we have. It was the big goal of the season to come here and qualify which we did, plus I had a day off.
“Not everything was bad [in the Thiem match] but of course if you over-analyse it, all of a sudden it can be. There were plenty of ways to get through that loss. Just hanging out with my kids did it for me. I was ready, I was prepared today and that’s what matters the most. I hope I can keep it up and hopefully play a bit better in the next match.”
Last night’s late game was between Thiem and world No 1 Novak Djokovic.
Federer will tomorrow face his great rival and world No 2 Djokovic, in a repeat of July’s marathon Wimbledon final that the Serbian won in five memorable sets.
On Monday, top seed Rafael Nadal lost his opener in Group Andre Agassi to defending champion Alexander Zverev, while Stefanos Tsitsipas beat Daniil Medvedev. The top two players from each group qualify for the semi-finals.