The calculation was complicated, Roger Federer simplified it with a 6:4, 6:3 over Kevin Anderson and is now in the semi-finals of the ATP Finals in London. Dominic Thiem, on the other hand, has been eliminated.
By Florian Goosmann from London
After Dominic Thiem’s match, there were a wide variety of theories that were circulating in the Twitter world every second until the ATP itself stepped in: Federer would be able to get ahead with one set against Anderson, otherwise with five games (in a two-set defeat) or six games (if one set went to seven).
And of course they were there right from the start, the “Let’s go, Roger” and “We love you, Roger” shouts, in this case already at the first page change. When Federer then converted a 2:3 and 0:30 with a remarkable stop-and-back pass ball combination into a game win, the director of the big screen on the hall ceiling pulled the action and whipped the spectators in the almost full o2 arena to a volume level of 105 dB.
Kevin Anderson seemed to be impressed: Until then, he had served sovereignly, his subsequent service game he surrendered to zero. However, Federer did not use the momentum, but took the direct rebreak – in order to break again immediately afterwards, to zero again.
A 0:40 for his part, he finally turned to a 6:4 set win and a safe semi-final entry at the ATP Finals, his 15 with now 16 participations (only in 2008 he was eliminated in the preliminary round). Dominic Thiem, who had earned his remaining chance in the afternoon with a victory over Kei Nishikori, was out with it.
In passage two, everything stayed in line until 3-3, but then Federer earned the first break point of the set, forcing Anderson to make a mistake with a long slice in his backhand – the preliminary decision. Federer finally fixed his victory with another break.
All in all, it was a sovereign and playful performance by the Swiss who, after initial problems with variable slice returns (which Nick Kyrgios had recently praised as one of Federer’s recipes for success), defused Anderson’s serves. Federer also varied cleverly in the rallies, moving Anderson and preventing him from continuing his power play after a strong start. But also because the South African scattered too much with his forehand.
Already after his victory over Dominic Thiem, Federer had told us that he had come to the pitch with a more positive attitude than in the Nishikori game, in which he had been ragging a lot. After skipping a training session on Monday (with the subsequent victory over Thiem), he skipped it again on Wednesday – his new success proves him right.
“Normally it’s ‘You lose, you leave’ – the Round Robin system is different,” Federer said afterwards. “Of course, the victory of Thiem helped me this afternoon.”
Federer has thus been determined as the group winner ahead of Anderson in the Group Lleyton Hewitt, he will play against Group Gustavo Kuerten in second place on Saturday.
In the doubles, Juan Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah had won 6:3, 7:6 (5) against Raven Klaasen and Michael Venus. They follow Jamie Murray and Bruno Soares on their way to the semi-finals.
More info will follow!
The ATP Finals group stands at a glance