Swiss Maestro Roger Federer Back On Track at Nitto ATP Tennis Finals • Anderson Routs Nishikori To Go 2-0

Switzerland’s Roger Federer returns to Austria’s Dominic Thiem during an ATP Tour Finals tennis match at the O2 Arena in London, Britain, 13 November 2018.  EPA-EFE/ANDY RAIN

 

 

By Ricky Dimon

 

John Isner said following his 6-4, 6-3 Monday night loss to Novak Djokovic at the Nitto ATP Finals that he got his “ass kicked.”

 

If Isner got his ass kicked by Djokovic, what happened to Kei Nishikori and Dominic Thiem on Tuesday is not suitable for print.

 

Kevin Anderson humiliated Nishikori 6-0, 6-1 before Federer trounced Thiem 6-2, 6-3. Neither match lasted more than 67 minutes.

 

Having previously lost to Nishikori in his opening round-robin contest on Sunday, Federer faced a must-win situation in Tuesday’s nightcap if he wanted to keep his semifinal hopes alive. The Swiss had no trouble doing so, as he broke Thiem’s serve early in each set and four times in total. On his own serve, meanwhile, Federer surrendered only six points in eight games and fired four aces without double-faulting a single time.

 

The year-end championship has a recent history of producing lopsided matches, but none has been more emphatic than Anderson’s rout of Nishikori during the afternoon session. The 6-1, 6-0 result equaled Federer’s victory over Andy Murray in 2014–even featuring the exact same game progression (both Nishikori and Murray finally earned their first game while staring a double-bagel in the face, serving at 0-6, 0-5).

 

In fairness to the Japanese world No. 9, Anderson was in stellar form from start to finish and called it “one of the best matches I’ve ever played” during his post-match interview.

 

“[I got] off to a really good start,” said the South African, who served at 78 percent, struck 10 aces without double-faulting, and dropped a total of eight points in seven service games. “And I think I did a really good job constantly applying the pressure and not letting up. Sometimes it’s tough if you have a very dominating set; you often see scorelines that momentum can change…. It almost works against you some ways if you have a really good lead.

 

“Today I kept at it the whole time…. I was growing in confidence and he probably was going a little the other way, which is tough given the situation. So I felt I did a fantastic job throughout, really. Even though I had a lead, I felt a sense of urgency throughout which I thought was really important.”

 

“I don’t even know why I didn’t play well today,” Nishikori admitted. “Missing a lot. I don’t know. I just didn’t feel the ball today. It wasn’t my day today…. I played one of the worst matches this year and also he was playing well, too.”

 

Despite the lopsided loss, Nishikori–and everyone else in Group B, for that matter–is still mathematically alive to reach the semis. At 2-0, though, Anderson remains in control of the group heading into a Thursday night date with Federer.

 

Ricky contributes to 10sballs.com and also maintains his own tennis website, The Grandstand. You can follow him on twitter at @TennGrand.