TENNIS WORLD TOUR FINAL – Roger Federer got off to a convincing start in the Group B of the round robin with a 6-1 7-6 win over Milos Raonic on his 13th appearance at the ATP World Tour Finals at the O2 Arena in London. Diego Sampaolo
Roger Federer made a winning debut taking a re-match over Milos Raonic who beat the Swiss legend in the quarter finals of the Paris Bercy Master 1000. This time experience in this kind of tournaments made the difference in favour of Federer who saved all the four break points he faced to win his opening match at the ATP World Finals for the 10th time in his career. He needed 87 minutes to beat the young Canadian newcomer who has qualified for the first time in his career in the ATP Finals.
Federer, who brought up only one break point chance in the quarter final match in Paris, got six break point opportunities against the Canadian big-server.
Federer broke serve in the second game and cruised to 3-0 lead in the opening set. The six-time ATP Finals champion got a double break in the sixth game to wrap up the first set with 6-1 after 25 minutes. Federer dropped just four service points in the first set.
Raonic saved a break point early in the third game of the second set. The young Canadian player fought back from 0-40 twice to bring up break point chances at 2-2 and 3-3 but Federer held nerve and managed to save them. Raonic could not convert any of his four break point chances in the second set
Federer faced a tough opposition from Raonic at the end of the second set and had to save a break point point on Raonic’s set point at 5-6 30-40 with a service winner. The second set came down to the tie-break where Federer dominated with 7-0 after Raonic made a double fault and a forehand error.
Federer now leads 7-1 in his career head-to-head matches against Raonic.
On Tuesday afternoon Federer will take on Kei Nishikori who won the first of his four career head-to-head matches against Andy Murray with 6-4 6-4. Murray will face a crucial match against Raonic on Tuesday
“I was happy with how I performed. I thank the crowd for the standing ovation when I entered the building. The second set was much tougher. It was an important set to win. I don’t think he played a great breaker but it was great to win. It’s a small relief but we have a tough group, so it’s going to be hard advancing, buti t brings me a step closer. I am looking forward to playing Nishikori now.”
Federer talked about his targets he set at the start of the year and what woul mean for him to end the year at the top of the ranking.
“I have now five finals. I made another five finals. We are in the Davis Cup final. It was a very successful year. Better than I thought it was going to be, I figured I was going to struggle until March this year. Success kicked in quite quickly with Brisbane and the Australian Open. The rankings came by surprise all of a sudden. I had a small shot at World Number 1 after winning Shanghai. But It’s highly unlikely it’s going to happen. For me personally it doesn’t matter if it happened at the end of the year or another week during the year, as long as you could get back to world number 1 one more time. That would be very special because I have been there and I know how much it would mean. Winning a tournament is a one-week thing but getting back to world number 1 is an entirely different animal”, said Federer.
Raonic was obviously disappointed after losing 7-0 in the tie-break of the second set. “It can come down to one play. We might be playing a third set. It’s obviously disappointing the way I finished the second set. It took me more than one set to find my way into the match because of playing Roger, not because of playing here for the first time”, said Raonic
Asked about his next match against Murray, Raonic said: “It’s a completely different match. Things are going to be different than the first match”.
