By Chris Oddo | Thursday November 15, 2018
Heading into action on Thursday in London Roger Federer needed just six games to book his spot in the semifinals at the ATP Finals for the 15th time in 16 appearances.
He won 12 instead.
Such is the way of the 20-time major champion. He can be inconsistent at his age but Federer, now 37 and ranked third in the world, is still a legend very much in possession of his powers.
Those powers were in play on Thursday as Federer defeated Kevin Anderson 6-4, 6-3 to take home the top spot in Group Lleyton Hewitt at the ATP Finals and keep alive hopes that he may finish the season winning his 100th career title.
Federer improves to 48-9 on the season and 57-14 lifetime at the ATP Finals while exacting a bit of revenge against Anderson for a five-set defeat at the hands of the South African this summer in the quarterfinals at Wimbledon.
The Swiss completes round robin play with a 2-1 record by defeating Dominic Thiem and Anderson in straight-sets after he fell to Kei Nishikori in his first match on Sunday.
Federer will face the second-place finisher in Group Guga Kuerten on Saturday. That could potentially be Novak Djokovic, who has already qualified for the semifinals, but most likely he’ll face either Alexander Zverev, Marin Cilic or John Isner.
“I’m happy I’m still alive and I hope I can play a good match on the day after tomorrow," he said.
It didn't happen often but Federer did run into trouble on a few occasions during the 77-minute contest; once when he was broken while serving at 4-3 in the opener, and again when he fell behind 0-40 while serving for the set at 5-4.
Federer would rally back to hold and take the opening set 6-4, which made his semifinal qualification official.
The second set was less complicated.
The six-time ATP Finals champ dropped just four points on serve in set two and broke twice on four opportunities while winning 10 of 14 second-serve return points.
“I’m thrilled, the body is feeling really good I must say,” Federer said. “I still have some energy left in the tank—it’s been a long year for all of us. But I think maybe a break in the summer helps me a little bit at least on the mental side. I just want to enjoy myself and play one more good match and we’ll see what happens.”
Federer finished the evening with 18 winners against just 14 unforced errors, while Anderson struck only 13 winners against 24 unforced errors. The South African struck just three winners off the baseline and won only 8 of 25 second-serve points, saving just two of six break points.
Anderson finishes second in the group and will face the first-place finisher in Saturday’s semifinals.
On Friday in London, Alexander Zverev and John Isner will play the day session, while Djokovic and Marin Cilic will play in the evening.
Zverev would qualify automatically with a win over Isner while there is only one scenario in which Isner would qualify (a straight-sets win by Isner coupled with a win by Djokovic).
Cilic, 2-16 lifetime against Djokovic, would qualify with a win over Djokovic, but only if Isner defeats Zverev as well.