Federer back in business in London, Anderson crushes Nishikori

John Isner said following his 6-4, 6-3 loss to Novak Djokovic on Monday night, “I got my ass kicked.”

If Isner got his ass kicked by Djokovic, what happened to Kei Nishikori and Dominic Thiem at the Nitto ATP Finals on Tuesday is not suitable for print.

Kevin Anderson destroyed Nishikori 6-0, 6-1 before Federer steamrolled Thiem 6-2, 6-3. Neither contest lasted more than 67 minutes.

Having previously lost his opening round-robin match against Nishikori on Sunday, Federer faced a must-win situation in Tuesday’s nightcap to keep his semifinal hopes alive. The 37-year-old had no trouble accomplishing that feat, as he broke Thiem’s serve early in each set and four times in total. On his own serve, meanwhile, Federer lost a mere six points in eight games and struck four aces without double-faulting.

The O2 Arena has a recent history of producing lopsided matches, but none has been more emphatic than Anderson’s beatdown of Nishikori during the afternoon session. The 6-1, 6-0 result equaled Federer’s rout of Andy Murray in 2014–even featuring the exact same game progression (both Nishikori and Murray won their first game while staring a double-bagel in the face, serving at 0-6, 0-5).

In fairness to Nishikori, Anderson was in outstanding form from start to finish and called it “one of the best matches I’ve ever played” during his post-match interview.

“[I got] off to a really good start,” said the fifth-ranked South African, who served at 78 percent, fired 10 aces without double-faulting, and lost a total of eight points in seven service games. “And I think I did a really good job constantly applying the pressure and not letting up. Sometimes it’s tough if you have a very dominating set; you often see scorelines that momentum can change…. It almost works against you some ways if you have a really good lead.

“Today I kept at it the whole time…. I was growing in confidence and he probably was going a little the other way, which is tough given the situation. So I felt I did a fantastic job throughout, really. Even though I had a lead, I felt a sense of urgency throughout which I thought was really important.”

“I don’t even know why I didn’t play well today,” Nishikori lamented. “Missing a lot. I don’t know. I just didn’t feel the ball today. It wasn’t my day today…. I played one of the worst matches this year and also he was playing well, too.”

Despite the loss, Nishikori–and everyone else in Group B, for that matter–is still mathematically alive. At 2-0, Anderson obviously remains in control of the group heading into a Thursday showdown against Federer.

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