Surprise at the end of the first day of the ATP finals in London: Roger Federer, seeded second, had to admit defeat to the Japanese Kei Nishikori in two sets.
Dream start for Kei Nishikori in London: The Japanese only needed 87 minutes to beat Roger Federer 7-6 (4) and 6-3. For Nishikori it was only his third success against the Swiss in the tenth match. On Tuesday, the Japanese player will play against Kevin Anderson, while Federer will play Dominc Thiem for his retention in the London O2 Arena at the end of the season.
Federer seemed a bit nervous, just like in the training session with Borna Coric on Saturday. And not satisfied with the way he played. In the first set, Nishikori quickly took a 6:1 lead in the tie-break, Federer was able to come back to 4:6.
In the second run the tide seemed to turn, the 20 times Major winner started with a break. Nishikori, however, equalled immediately and Federer’s serve to 4:2. After 1:27 hours of play, the underdog served 15.
In the so-called Lleyton-Hewitt group, however, he ranks behind Nishikori and South African Kevin Anderson after the first of three matchdays. The Wimbledon finalist won his match against Dominic Thiem from Austria 6:3, 7:6 (10).
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In the Guga-Kuerten group, Germany’s top player Alexander Zverev will have to deal with the Croatian Marin Cilic on Monday (15.00 MEZ/Sky and in our Live-TICKER). In the evening, world number one Novak Djokovic (Serbia) meets John Isner (USA). The first and second of both groups qualify for the semi-finals on Saturday.
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Federer, who had only failed in the preliminary round in 2008 in his 15 appearances, will play Thiem on Tuesday and Anderson will face Nishikori. For the two losers of the first day, Thiem and Federer, everything is already at stake. In the internal balance with Federer, Dominic Thiem is ahead with 2:1 victories. The last match between the two took place in 2016 in Stuttgart on grass.