Djokovic beat Nishikori in his first match, and will face Berdych on Thursday for a spot in the semifinals.
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He is unbeaten since 2012 and is bidding to become the first player to win four successive World Tour Finals titles.
“Was one of the worst starts I’ve had in years”, Federer said.
But two loose shots from Mergea handed the break straight back, and Murray and Peers then fought off another break point thanks to a remarkable shot from the Scot.
“This doesn’t feel now so insane early because we’ve had the week of preparation, we’ve both had a match now”.
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.
The 34-year-old Swiss is hoping not to make the same mistakes he did when he play Djokovic next.
The Spaniard, who has climbed back to fifth in the rankings after falling to 10th in a miserable summer, took advantage of an error-strewn Wawrinka display to move level with Andy Murray at the top of Ilie Nastase Group.
Novak Djokovic, as expected, continues to look invincible as the season he regards as his “best ever” moves with the momentum of a runaway truck towards its conclusion in London this week.
The immediate preoccupation for Federer and six other players will be how to stop Djokovic winning the title for a fourth straight year.
Djokovic was playing with swagger and a nonchalant backhand volley gave him the most comfortable of opening wins.
Sunday’s opening matches were reminiscent of numerous one-sided singles matches here a year ago, and Federer said the slowish court surface meant it was very hard to turn around a match once you fall behind. Two days is not the match that I care the most about, to be quite honest. Czech ” s two main weapons, service and forehand, didn ” t worked today, and there was just no chance he could beat Roger without them. Everything was fine. I was playing a very good second set and I was playing well in the third.
“Undoubtedly it’s been an incredible performance that I was hoping I can have coming into the match, coming into this tournament where I’ve had a great record in the last couple of years”. “I don’t think I’m that far off”.
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“Today, for an opponent I had one of the quickest tennis players, but one who has a lot of talent and like to play aggressively”. The way the Serbian played during his 6-1, 6-1 dismissal of Kei Nishikori it seems likely that the tournament will end next Sunday in a similar manner.
