Uphill task for Federer post Thiem defeat; Tsitsipas wins

Roger Federer faces a tall order in a bid to qualify for the last four of the ATP Finals after a 7-5, 7-5 loss to Dominic Thiem in his tournament opener on Sunday.

The six-time champion was in action in the evening match after Novak Djokovic had swatted aside debutant Matteo Berrettini in the earlier Group Bjorn Borg contest in London.

Thiem had never won his opening group match in his three previous appearances but took full advantage of a unusually sluggish Federer to make a flying start. While six-time champion Federer will fancy his chances of steadying the ship against Berrettini on Tuesday, he will likely need to beat Djokovic — in a repeat of this year’s Wimbledon final — on Thursday to reach the semi-finals. Two players advance from the four-man group.

The Swiss 20-time Grand Slam winner recovered quickly from being broken in the first game of the match but the Austrian fifth seed repeated the dose in the 11th game and took the opening set 7-5.

Federer squandered an early chance to break in the second set and the games went with serve until the 11th game again, when Thiem broke to love after the third seed dumped a forehand into the net. The Austrian stuttered while serving for the match, forced to save two break points, but he held his nerve to take the set 7-5 and seal victory on his second match point.

Thiem came into the match with a 4-2 winning record against his illustrious opponent but the result is still a surprise. The only time Federer has failed to progress to the knockout stages was in 2008.

Earlier, Djokovic began his quest for a record-equalling sixth ATP Finals title and sixth year-end number one spot a 6-2, 6-1 romp against Berrettini.

The Serbian was last week nudged off the top position in the rankings by Rafael Nadal, who is also in the eight-man field in London.

Djokovic must reach the final at the O2 Arena to stand any chance of dislodging Nadal but there are major questions over the Spaniard’s fitness.

If the Serbian does claim the year-end number one spot, he would match the record of Pete Sampras and victory at the end-of-season event would equal Federer’s mark.

Germany’s Alexander Zverev shocked Djokovic in last year’s final but the Serbian is the firm favourite in London after cantering to victory at last week’s Paris Masters. Nadal, who has never won the event, is bidding to clinch the year-end number one spot in the ATP rankings for a fifth time.

Regardless of Djokovic’s results this week, Nadal will clinch the year-end top spot for a fifth time if he reaches the final with a 4-0 record.

Nadal has qualified 15 straight times for the year-end championships but he has only made eight prior appearances due to injuries.

The tournament, featuring the year’s best eight players, is contested in a round-robin format with the best four players and doubles teams reaching the knockout semi-finals stage. Nadal, in Group Andre Agassi, begins his campaign on Monday against defending champion Zverev.

On Monday, Stefanos Tsitsipas broke his hoodoo against Daniil Medvedev.

The Greek 21-year-old came into the match at London’s O2 Arena with a 5-0 losing record against his Russian opponent weighing on him.

But he edged a tight first set, winning the tie-break, and a single break late in the second set proved decisive in a 7-6 (7/5), 6-4 victory.

There was little to choose between the players in a match dominated by serve but Medvedev fatally chose to leave a ball in the ninth game of the second set that landed in, handing Tsitsipas a break point which he seized, going on to wrap up victory. The pair have a spiky relationship.

Tensions flared between them at the 2018 Miami Open and Tsitsipas recently labelled Medvedev’s way of winning as “boring” after defeat against the Russian in Shanghai.

World number four Medvedev is looking to add lustre to an impressive breakout year by winning the glitzy end-of-season event in London.

The 23-year-old Russian has emerged as the leader of the pack of young tyros preparing to unseat the old guard of Nadal, Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer. Four of the eight competitors at the ATP Finals at the O2 Arena are under 24 for the first time in 10 years.

Agencies