Federer knocks Nishikori from London Tour Finals

Serbia’s Novak Djokovic clinched his place in the semi-finals of the ATP World Tour Finals when he beat Tomas Berdych 6-3 7-5 in his last round-robin match late last night.

Berdych had already lost his first two group matches and when Djokovic broke in the opening game of the second set he could easily have crumbled.

Christmas would have come early for the Swiss if his nemesis, and World No 1, Novak Djokovic had gone down in straight sets to Tomas Berdych, the only eventuality which would have eliminated the Serb from the competition.

Yet as suddenly as Nishikori had seized the advantage, he found it vanished just as quickly as Federer took advantage of a sloppy service game to break again.

Roger Federer’s enduring brilliance and his sheer hatred of losing allowed him to withstand a stunning fightback by Kei Nishikori and remain undefeated at the ATP World Tour Finals on Thursday.

Nishikori said afterwards: “I was making a lot of returns. I see it more as a good thing because I guess it is good also to have a changing of the guard eventually”. A couple of uncharacteristic errors from the 10-time Grand Slam champion gave the break right back.

Federer will face either Wawrinka or Murray for a place in the final.

Back on serve at 3-4, the eighth game was highlighted by a brilliant Nishikori half-volley victor – the contact point coming with both racket and ball behind him. It’s easy for the mind now, in my opinion. After Nishikori was forced to hit two volleys, Federer stroked a backhand victor down the line, prompting a thumbs-up from his foe.

“We have played so many times and even a couple of times on this very court”, said Djokovic, who has won seven of his last eight matches with Nadal. I don’t remember the last time I shaved.

Serving to stay in the match, Nishikori double-faulted at 40-30 and then missed a forehand long to hand Federer match point.

“It’s definitely one of the aspects that I need to work on or basically be able to get better in those matches playing the top guys”.

Djokovic trails his career head-to-head series with Nadal by the slightest of margins, 23-22, but has won all three of their meetings in 2015 – and all seven sets.