By Chris Oddo | Sunday November 11, 2018
Kei Nishikori snapped a personal six-math losing streak against Roger Federer to move to the top of the table in London.
Photo Source: AP
The Nitto ATP Finals have historically been Roger Federer’s tournament--on glance at the tournamen'ts annals will tell you that. But the six-time champion let Kei Nishikori steal the show on Sunday night at the 02 Arena in London as a bevy of errors from Federer and some timely shotmaking from Japan’s No.1 played a pivotal role in the Swiss's undoing.
It was a stellar beginning to the week's final season for Nishikori, who improved his lifetime record to 4-7 at the ATP Finals by snapping a six-match, four-year losing streak to Federer, 7-6(4), 6-3.
“I tried to do a little more,” said Nishikori. “I think it’s important to give [Federer] a little more pressure.”
In the end both players committed 15 or more errors than unforced errors (Federer was 15 winners v 34 unforced; Nishikori was 6 winners v 22 unforced), but it was Nishikori who found a way to make the numbers work for him as he went for less but also missed less.
Neither player could make any inroads on the other’s serve in the opener, but it was Nishikori who made the biggest shot of the day while serving at 5-6, 15-30. With Federer attacking his serve he made an incredible reflexive backhand that just got over the net for a winner.
From there Nishikori rolled through the tiebreaker, opening up a 6-1 lead and converting his fourth set point to grab the set.
Federer quickly hit back with a break in the second set but Nishikori leveled immediately and broke again critically in the sixth game after a Federer double-fault at 30-all opened the door. Nishikori crashed through with a big forehand return followed by a wide-angled inside-out forehand that Federer could barely touch to claim the break and a 4-2 lead.
From there it was fairly routine. Nishikori won his next seven points on serve to get to triple match point then converted his second match point when a Federer forehand sailed long.
The victory marks Nishikori’s 43rd win of the season against 19 losses—he improves to 35-4 when winning the first set.
“I think I Played good tennis,” said Nishikori. “Using my forehand a little more to play aggressive, and things started working in the second set.”
Federer drops to 46-9 on the season and 55-14 overall at the World Tour Finals. 37-year-old Federer holds tournament records for finals (10), semi-finals (14), appearances (16) and wins (55). He will face Dominic Thiem in the night session on Tuesday, while Nishikori will face Kevin Anderson in the day session.