Roger Federer couldn’t complete his hat-trick at the ATP World Tour Finals – Tennis News
All Swiss fans were saddened on the eve of Monday when their heartthrob, Roger Federer, crumbled in the final showdown of the season-ending grand finale, the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals. The Swiss Maestro had a gruelling battle
against the Serbian juggernaut, Novak Djokovic, but couldn’t finish on the top and submitted in straight sets, 6-7(6), 5-7.
Federer was rated as the hot favourite for winning his third successive ATP World Tour Finals title but it wasn’t his day. The 31-year-old gave some real tough time to the world number one in the two sets, stretching Djokovic to
his limits and posting a solid resistance. However, the top seeded Serbian proved too strong to be conquered on Monday and prevailed the pressure situations of the competition to lift his second ATP World Tour Finals trophy.
The Swiss tennis genius started off in grand fashion, breaking early and imposing a 3-0 lead right away. He had another breakthrough in the ninth game but Djokovic nullified his advantage both times in the match, dragging the opener
into a tie-break round. The decider also went to the wire and Djokovic cashed on a crucial mini-break to pocket the set number one at 7-6(6).
A similar sort of pattern followed in the following set and scores were tied at 5-5 after an exchange of break points. Djokovic struck the decisive blow in the 12th game by breaking the Swiss serve and annihilated Federer’s
dream of claiming his seventh ATP World Tour title.
“I think there were too many [turning points] to really pinpoint one because any one of them, obviously, could have thrown the match into a different direction again in the first, and in the second, too,” admitted Federer. “More
so in the first maybe because there were more twists and turns. Maybe [I have] a bit of regret because I had the lead twice, first before him.”
The world number two Swiss contender has been victorious against Djokovic in their previous two encounters and was expected to replicate the similar sort of performance in the Monday’s final as well. It was simply not his day and
the Swiss Maestro was left dejected in the end. He couldn’t finish the 2012 season like the way he ended the professional circuit last year. Federer won three back-to-back titles (Swiss Indoors Basel, BNP Paribas Masters and the ATP World Tour Finals) to finish
the 2011 season but didn’t claim any of those three titles this time.
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