Switzerland’s Roger Federer celebrates winning a point from Serbia’s Novak Djokovic during their ATP World Tour Finals tennis match at the O2 Arena in London, England, Tuesday November 17, 2015.
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Djokovic and Federer were pre-tournament favourites to progress from group Stan Smith, and they showed why with two dominating performances on the event’s first day.
All the players wore black ribbons on their shirts as a mark of respect to the victims of Friday’s deadly attacks in Paris.
After Berdych and Federer traded early breaks to love, the Swiss took the next break for 5-4 on his way to closing out the first set in 37 minutes.
Unaffected by that sombre opening, Djokovic set about dismantling Nishikori in typically relentless fashion and landed the first blow with a break in the second game.
They have met three times before at the season-ending championships, with Federer winning in straight sets in 2010 and Djokovic winning in 2012 and 2013.
“That depends on who looks at the gap”, Federer, who pulled out of last year’s final against Djokovic with a back problem, said.
“It’s the best season, best year of my life”, said Djokovic, who received an ATP World No. 1 trophy in a special presentation yesterday after being assured of topping the year-end rankings.
Serbian world number one Djokovic plays Swiss third seed Federer in Tuesday’s other group match.
A tight deciding set then stayed on serve until Nishikori got the decisive break for 5-3 and closed it out.
The world number one oozed confidence as he talked about his display, saying: ” I think I was at my best.
While it earned world number eight Nishikori another $167,000, the reward for a group win, it is likely to prove in vain unless he beats Federer in his final match and Berdych defeats Djokovic.
“That put on a little pressure to come back. The rally started pretty well for me, but I was not able to break him”, Berdych said.
“I think I played well”. “I mean, he also played unbelievable tennis”. Six of those matches have been this year – and indeed Federer is the last man to have beaten Djokovic, having taken him down in the final at the Cincinatti Masters in August.
Home fans were given a few early excitement when Jamie Murray, older brother of Andy, marked his debut at the tournament when he and Australian partner John Peers beat Italian duo Fabio Fognini and Simone Bolelli in a thriller.
On Federer’s second match point, Djokovic shot wide and challenged, but the ball was correctly called out as Federer celebrated victory.
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“All my heart goes out to the families of the lost ones, it’s really devastating to see those images and that footage”, said Djokovic.
