Roger Federer opened his 2017 ATP final with a win: The Swiss defeated Jack Sock 6-4 and 7-6 (4).
Roger Federer started his title mission at the ATP finals in London with a sovereign victory. The Grand Slam record winner from Switzerland won 6-4,7-6 (7-4) against Jack Sock (USA/No. 8). After 1:31 hours, Federer (No. 2) benefited from his opponent’s mistake at his first match point.
On Sunday evening in the Federer Group, officially named after Boris Becker, Alexander Zverev (Hamburg) will also play his first match. Opponent of the world rankings is former US open champion Marin Cilic (Croatia/No. 5). The 20-year-old Zverev is the first German to reach the season finale since Rainer Schüttler (2003).
Federer has won the $8 million final tournament six times. However, his last triumph there was six years ago.
Sock, the youngest winner of the Indoor Masters in Paris, had qualified as the eighth and last professional for London. Sock therefore had to cancel a planned golf vacation with his Davis Cup colleague John Isner. The 25-year-old is thus the first American since Mardy Fish 2011 to return to the ATP finals in the singles.
Federer started the group stage in front of 15,000 spectators. Already in Sock’s first serve game, he managed to break his first break, which was enough for the favourite in the opening round. After 37 minutes, the superstar from Switzerland took the first set with his fourth ace. Sock was able to make the duel more balanced, but Federer kept his nerves in the tiebreak.
The unbeaten winner of London will receive a cash prize of $2.55 million. German victories were achieved at the indoor tournament held since 1970 by Boris Becker (1988,1992,1995) and Michael Stich (1993).