Roger Federer beats Kei Nishikori in three-set thriller at the O2
Friday 20 November 2015 11:28, UK
Roger Federer overcame a stubborn Kei Nishikori to make it three wins from three at the ATP World Tour Finals at London's O2 Arena.
Federer beat his Japanese opponent 7-5 4-6 6-4 to confirm his place at the top of the Stan Smith group, but that only tells half the story.
The Swiss was already guaranteed a place in the semi-finals courtesy of his straight-sets wins over Tomas Berdych and Novak Djokovic, but battled for two hours and 10 minutes to maintain his unbeaten record.
Despite his win, Federer struggled with his second serve throughout - just a 33% success rate, as Nishikori was able to pick him off to recover from a set and 4-1 down in the second to take it to a deciding set in a dramatic topsy-turvy encounter.
The Japanese world No 8's fighting spirit was evident in the third set as he came from 4-1 down once again to level at 4-4, but ultimately it was to no avail and his hopes of reaching the last four are now over.
Nishikori made the semi-finals here on his debut last year and took a set off Djokovic, and his chances looked very much alive when he overturned an early deficit with successive breaks to lead 4-3 in the opening set.
But the third seed was determined not to let Nishikori pull away and pumped his fist as he broke back for 4-4 before a backhand into the net from Nishikori gave Federer the set.
When Federer pulled 4-1 ahead in the second, it appeared as though he would run away with the match.
The trend for singles matches this week has been for a competitive first set to be followed by a whitewash of a second, but Nishikori showed great fight to retrieve the break and then benefited from his opponent's lapse in concentration.
A shocker of a miss from on top of the net contributed to a second straight break and Nishikori levelled the match.
The eighth seed was pushing for another break in the third game of the decider but Federer recovered from 0-40 to hold. A crucial chance missed for the Japanese as Federer then rubbed salt in the wound by breaking himself.
Again Federer got to 4-1 but again Nishikori fought back, showing why he is tipped as the man most likely to take over the mantle once the 'big four' finally fade.
But for now their dominance remains and Federer, who had converted all of his six break points, buried a smash to make it 51 wins in 14 appearances at the tournament.
