FED LINES UP KEV REMATCH

Swiss ace targets revenge on Wimbledon foe

ROGER FEDERER stayed alive at the O2 by destroying Dominic Thiem in straight sets last night – and now wants revenge over Kevin Anderson.

The Swiss superstar risked early elimination after a shocking opening defeat to Kei Nishikori in the Nitto ATP World Tour Finals.

But the six-time winner was back to his imperious best as he dispatched the No.6 seed 6-2 6-3 in only 66 minutes.

Federer lost only six points on his devastating serve while terrible Thiem made a painful 34 unforced errors. The Austrian’s last was on the second match point when he ballooned a forehand volley way over the baseline.

The Swiss said: “I am happy with my reaction after the last match against Kei. Today I was more positive and happy on the court. I reminded myself what a privilege it is to play at the O2 and hope it showed a bit.”

The 20-time Grand Slam winner still needs to beat the in-form Anderson to reach the last four. The South African won their last match in the Wimbledon quarter-finals when Federer had a match point.

“I am happy to get the chance to play him again and hopefully get my revenge,” said Federer. “It’s a different place, different court, but it’s still the same city.”

Nishikori went from beating Federer to just dodging the dreaded “double bagel” in another one-sided match.

Wimbledon finalist Anderson played like a dream as he won his second consecutive match on his debut here. But blundering Japanese star Nishikori had a nightmare as he lost 11 straight games to the super South African before finally holding his serve.

The world No.9 still lost 0-6 1-6 in only 64 minutes – his worst ever Tour-level defeat.

Nishikori – who can still reach the last four by beating Thiem – said: “For me, it was one of the worst days in the year. Something was wrong. I’ve got to fix it tomorrow.”

Anderson said: “That match was amongst the best I’ve played.”