Roger Federer dumps Mardy Fish for a perfect Group B record – Barclays ATP World Tour Finals 2011
Fourth ranked Swiss maestro, Roger Federer, completes his Round Robin stage of Group B at the Barclays ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals) World Tour Finals perfectly, outplaying the eighth seed American, Mardy Fish, on Thursday
night.
Federer took one hour and forty eight minutes of play to wind up victory in three sets 6-1, 3-6, 6-3, to enter the semi-final stage of the season finale with 3-0. The fourth seed won all his Round Robin matches with authority,
outplaying the sixth seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and then the world number two, Rafael Nadal, in the earlier encounters to top the Group B standings.
Fish was absolutely blown away by the Swiss fury in the opening set but made a valiant come back in the second set to remain alive in the competition. He went through another slump in the final set, falling to Federer to finish
0-3 in his very first participation at the ATP World Tour Finals.
Federer belted 28 winners in the contest, with seven aces and no double faults at all en route to victory. The Swiss maestro now holds a 15-match winning streak, with two successive championship titles to his name (the Swiss Indoors
Basel and the BNP Paribas Masters). The fourth seed had already qualified for the semi-final round of the tournament on Tuesday, when he powered through his arch rival, Nadal, in a one-sided affair.
“The first set wasn't as one sided as the score suggested, and the second set he played great,” said Federer. “He really started to zone in on many shots. I thought he was able to keep that up in the third set. So I was happy to
get the crucial break early in the third and maybe cruise a bit more. I definitely struggled a little bit more today, but I thought that was more due to the circumstances, like you mentioned, and Mardy playing well for most of the match.”
Federer has been pushed down to the world number four spot in the South African Airways 2011 ATP Rankings, replaced by Andy Murray of the Great Britain, a couple of months ago. The Swiss has a perfect opportunity to reclaim his
world number three spot by reaching the final of the season ending mega event and his sublime form depicts that he is well for it. The defending champions, Federer, has already won the prestigious ATP World Tour Finals on five prior occasions, levelling with
Ivan Lendl and Pete Sampras, and is eyeing for a sixth title in his 10th appearance at the mega event.
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