ATP World Tour Finals: Federer vs Tsonga

AP Photo/Sang Tan

Roger Federer defeated David Ferrer in straight sets 7-5 6-3 to reach his 7th year-end championship final of his career, his 100th career tournament final (69-30 record). A few hours later Jo-Wilfried Tsonga outlasted Tomas Berdych 6-3 7-5 to join Federer in the final, which will be a reprise of the very first match of the tournament where Federer beat Tsonga in a tight 3-set match 6-2 2-6 6-4 .

I had predicted Federer would face Berdych and Ferrer would face Tsonga, since Ferrer won 5 sets and lost 3 while Berdych won 5 sets and lost 4 but I guess on game percentage Berdych ended up being the #1 player in Group A so he played the #2 player in Group B (Tsonga) while the #2 player in Group A ( Ferrer) was stuck playing the undefeated #1 player from Group B (Federer). The result was Federer improved to 12-0 lifetime against Ferrer while Tsonga won his first career match against Berdych (now 1-1).

By winning today Federer assures he will end the year at #3, behind World #1 Novak Djokovic and World#2 Rafael Nadal. Federer becomes the 5th player in ATP history to reach 100 tour finals, behind Jimmy Connors (163), Ivan Lendl (146), John McEnroe (108) and Guillermo Vilas (104).

Federer is trying to become the only person to win the year-end championship 6 times, which I believe he will do, in a very tough 3-set match on Sunday.

ATP World Tour Finals: Djokovic Loses 2nd Consecutive Match

AFP PHOTO / GLYN KIRK

World #1 Novak Djokovic amazing 2011 season ended with a whimper on Friday when he lost his second consecutive match at the ATP World Tour finals in London, failing to qualify for the semifinal round. Djokovic lost 3-6 6-3 6-3 to compatriot Janko Tipsarevic a few days after he was demolished in straight sets by David Ferrer 6-3 6-1. Djokovic's only win was a 3rd set tiebreak win where he saved match point against Tomas Berdych. Berdych and Ferrer will be in the semifinalis from Group A, since both the original higher ranked players, Andy Murray and Djokovic failed to make it through the round-robin plays (with Murray withdrawing from the tournament after losing in straight sets to Ferrer).

Earlier, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga had qualified for the semifinals by eliminating Rafael Nadal 7-6(2) 4-6 6-3 and Roger Federer became the first player to qualify while remaining undefeated (and now on a 15-match winning streak) by dismissing Mardy Fish.

Djokovic's 2011 season was still remarkable ending with a 70-6 record (losses to Federer, Murray, Juan Martin del Potro, Kei Nishikori, Ferrer,  and Tipsarevic) that includes 3 major titles and 5 Masters series titles and a 41-match winning streak.

The year's last tournament will conclude with Federer facing Berdych and Tsonga facing Ferrer in the semifinals

Federer-Nadal XXVI: Federer Demolishes Nadal 63 60

AFP PHOTO / GLYN KIRK

World #4 Roger Federer played his arch-rival World #2 Rafael Nadal for the 26th time on Wednesday, and as I predicted, he won his first match against the Spaniard in 2011. However, no one could have predicted the 30-year-old Swiss maestro would pull off his most comprehensive defeat of Nadal in their long rivalry.

Federer won 6-3 6-0 in just over 1 hour. The result was never in doubt after the 5th game of the match. Nadal did not play badly (he had a Wozniacki-like 4 winners and 7 unforced errors) but Federer was dominant in every category, blasting 28 winners to only 8 unforced errors. Federer broke Nadal 4 times in 6 chances, one of his highest breakpoint conversions ever. Nadal was able to win only 9 points in the second set (to Federer's 28). This was the third time that Federer had won a 6-0 set against Nadal (the others being the 2006 Wimbledon final and 2007 Hamburg Masters final). Nadal still leads their career head-to-head with 18 wins to 8 losses.

By winning so easily (dropping only 1 set and winning 4) Federer became the first player to qualify for the semifinal elimination round. The winner of the match between Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Nadal will decided the other semifinalist from Group B. Federer is the defending champion and is on a quest to become the first player to win the tour's year-ending championship for the 6th time.

In Group A, Andy Murray withdrew from the tournament due to the groin injury he was nursing in his loss to David Ferrer, which means that either Novak Djokovic, Ferrer or Tomas Berdych will be the 2 semifinalists. Janko Tipsarevic will replace Murray but since the tournament is a round-robin which has already commenced he has no chance to advance but he could get some serious cash. On Wednesday, Tipsarevic will face Berdych and Djokovic will face Ferrer.

ATP World Tour Finals: Federer-Nadal XXVI

Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal will meet for the 26th time of their careers, the fourth time in 2011, on Tuesday at the ATP World Tour Finals. Nadal has won all three of their previous meetings in 2011, on the hard courts in Miami, on the clay courts of Madrid and in the 2011 Roland Garros final. Nadal now leads their career head-to-head by a dominating 18-7.

This latest meeting is on an indoor hardcourt, when Federer is currently on a 13-match winning streak while Nadal needed a 3rd set tiebreak to escape with a win against Mardy Fish two days ago. They are meeting in the round-robin section of the year-end championships. Last year, Federer defeated Nadal on exactly this court in the final match of the year. I suspect that result will be repeated again on Tuesday.

PREDICTION: Federer.

World Tour Finals 2011: Round-Robin Draws Set

The two groups are set for the round-robin matches at the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals in London.

GROUP A
Novak Djokovic
Andy Murray
David Ferrer
Tomas Berdych


GROUP B
Rafael Nadal
Roger Federer
Jo-Wilfried Tsonga
Mardy Fish


The matches will begin on Sunday November 20th with Federer vs Tsonga and Nadal vs Fish, then on Monday Djokovic will play Berdych and Murray will play Berdych. The Top 2 players from each group will advance and the Top player in one group will play the second player in the other group. I suspect a Murray v Federer final will be occurring on Sunday November 27th.

Murray Routs Young To Win 19th ATP Title

AFP PHOTO / Pornchai KITTIWONGSAKUL

World #4 Andy Murray of Great Britain dismantled American youngster Donald Young 6-2 6-0 to win his 19th ATP Tour title of his career at the PTT Thailand Open. It was Young's first ATP Tour final of the year (and career) but his opponent's 4th of the year and 29th of his career.

Murray lost the  2011 Australian Open final to Novak Djokovic but won the Cincinnati Masters title after the Serbian retired and the Queen's Club final against Jo-Wilfried Tsonga on grass. The win today was Murray's 3rd title of the year.