Roger Federer made up for his own mistakes in a see-saw match to earn his third straight victory at the ATP finals on Thursday, beating Kei Nishikori 7-5, 4-6, 6-4 to secure top spot in his group and eliminate the Japanese player.
Federer broke for a 3-1 lead in all three sets but Nishikori came back each time, taking advantage of some rare mishits by the Swiss star along the way. But he finally ran out of comebacks as Federer earned his sixth break of the match in the last game, clinching the win with a smash at london’s O2 Arena.
Federer finished the group stage 3-0 while Nishikori was eliminated with a 1-2 record. Top-ranked Novak Djokovic played Tomas Berdych in the late match needing to win just a set to advance.
In Wednesday’s late match at the O2 Arena, Stan Wawrinka overcame an early break in the first set to beat Ferrer 7-5, 6-2. Wawrinka will next play Murray.
Bopanna-Mergea lose
Already through to semifinals, Rohan Bopanna and Florin Mergea finished second in Ashe/Smith Group after suffering defeat against Italian pair of Fabio Fognini and Simone Bolleli in their last Group match, here on Thursday.
Eight seeded Indo-Romanian pair made a strong comeback after losing the first set but eventually lost 4-6 6-1 5-10 to the fifth seeds. They trailed 0-3 in the Super Tie breaker and that cushion stayed with the Italians, who closed the match comfortably in their favour to record their third win a row.
Fognini and Bolleli finished as Group toppers.
Ironically, Bopanna and Mergea won 56 points, six more than their rivals yet ended up on the losing side.
Today’s match: Rafael Nadal vs David Ferrer on Star Sports 4 from 7:30 pm