Sunday at the ATP Finals: Roger Federer vs Kei Nishikori, Kevin Anderson vs Dominic Thiem
Coverage of day one starts on Sunday at 12pm live on Sky Sports Arena
By Emma Thurston
Last Updated: 11/11/18 10:35pm
Roger Federer will begin his quest for a seventh ATP Finals tournament title, his first since 2011, in Sunday's evening session which is live on Sky Sports.
The 37-year-old first tasted victory at the ATP Finals back in 2003 and has qualified for the season-ending tournament between the top eight players on a record-breaking 16 occasions.
If he does prevail on the final day of the tournament then it would bring about his 100th ATP title in total. The man who will first stand in Federer's way in Group Lleyton Hewitt is Kei Nishikori.
After an injury-ravaged 2017, which forced the Japanese player to miss five months with a wrist injury, his fortitude and form saw him reach a career-high ranking of No 3 earlier this year.
Sunday's Order of Play
| AFTERNOON SESSION | |
| Starts at 12pm | [4] J. Murray (GBR) / B. Soares (BRA) vs [6] R. Klaasen (RSA) / M. Venus (NZL) |
| Not Before 2pm | [4] K. Anderson (RSA) vs [6] D. Thiem (AUT) |
| EVENING SESSION | |
| Not Before 6pm | [2] J. Cabal (COL) / R. Farah (COL) vs [7] N. Mektic (CRO) / A. Peya (AUT) |
| Not Before 8pm | [2] R. Federer (SUI) vs [7] K. Nishikori (JPN) |
Nishikori replaces the injured Juan Martin del Potro and will be eager to make his mark in only his fourth showing at the competition. He'll be looking to find the flow that drove him into Wimbledon's quarter-finals and the semi-finals of the US Open.
Nishikori will hope recent form plays a part in the result because the head-to-head standings between him and Federer do not stack up in the Japanese man's favour.
Federer holds a 7-2 lead and has won their last six meetings on the bounce, including their most-recent contest - 6-4 6-4 - in Paris last week. Indeed, Nishikori's last victory over his opponent came back in 2014 in Miami.
Kevin Anderson and Dominic Thiem will play in the first singles match of the day, exclusively live on Sky Sports.
Many will vividly remember Anderson's duel with Federer at this year's Wimbledon Championships and the 32-year-old South African has had a year to remember.
Anderson's qualification to the ATP Finals saw him became the first singles player from South Africa in 23 years to gain a place and, come year-end, he will finish inside the Top 10 of the ATP Rankings for the very first time
The 32-year-old has won six of his eight run-ins with Thiem however the Austrian has the benefit of winning their last two. The first in Madrid 6-4 6-2 and their most-recent meeting during in the fourth round of the US Open - 7-5 6-2 7-6 (7-2).
The doubles is set to start the day off on a noisy note with Great Britain's Jamie Murray and his partner Bruno Soares taking on Raven Klaasen and Michael Venus.
The two pairs are getting to know each other well having met three times already this year. Murray and Soares were victorious in Washington and Rome however their opponents knocked them out of the Wimbledon Championships in the quarter-finals.
On that day it was a marathon that lasted more than four hours and it finished 7-6 (7-5) 6-7 (5-7) 7-5 6-7 (4-7) 4-6 in Klaasen's and Venus' favour.
The prowess of the two pairings is set to be the same again on Sunday but it's guaranteed to be a shorter contest as all doubles matches at the ATP Finals are two sets (no advantage) and a match tie-break.
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We will have coverage of the ATP Finals at London's O2 in November with every match live on Sky Sports. See TV listings HERE.
