Kevin Anderson is almost certainly in the knockout round after his second victory in the preliminary round of the season finale in London. The Wimbledon finalist from South Africa outclassed the Japanese Kei Nishikori in 74 minutes with 6:0, 6:1 and is hardly to be displaced by one of the first two places of the group “Lleyton Hewitt”.
Anderson (32), who is playing for the first time at the tournament of the eight best players of the season, had defeated Dominic Thiem from Austria in two sets.
Despite the debacle, Nishikori is still in charge of the semi-final on Saturday, because he surprisingly beat record winner Federer in his first match. On Friday, the 28-year-old meets Thiem.
Anderson can crown the best season of his career so far in London. This year he already won the tournaments in New York and Vienna – on the way to the title he beat Nishikori.
In Wimbledon Anderson lost only in the final against the world number one Novak Djokovic. The Serbian is in the group “Guga Kuerten” on Wednesday (15.00 CET/Sky) the next opponent of the Hamburg Alexander Zverev.