A big upset took place in the opening session of the 2017 World Tour Finals. No, it did not involve Roger Federer. Prior to Federer taking the singles court on Sunday afternoon, the eighth-seeded doubles pairing of Ryan Harrison and Michael Venus took down the world No. 2 team featuring Henri Kontinen and John Peers 6-4, 7-6(8).
Kontinen and Peers had never previously never lost a match at the World Tour Finals, as they went undefeated en route to the title last fall–capping off an impeccable first season together. The Finnish-Australian duo had chances on Sunday, but they failed to capitalize on a set point at 7-6 in the tiebreaker. Harrison and Venus, the French Open champions, eventually converted their third match point at 9-8.
Harrison posted the following on Instagram: “Got the win at the @atpworldtour finals group stage Rnd 1!”
“Awesome to get the win at the O2 today,” Venus wrote.
Wins at the O2 are nothing new for Federer, who improved to 53-12 lifetime at the year-end championship (and 26-7 in London) by taking care of Jack Sock 6-4, 7-6(4) in the event’s opening round-robin singles match. The Swiss got the job done in one hour and 31 minutes.
Federer could have made things easier on himself, but he capitalized on just one of six break-point chances. Still, he was never under any serious pressure. The 36-year-old did not face a single break point the entire way while serving at 63 percent and winning an impressive 36 of 40 (90 percent) first-serve points.
“I had a tactical plan with my team,” Federer noted. “But very often in a first match like this, it gets thrown overboard because at the end you’re just happy to be serving well. Focus on that first, and then on the return game sort of try your best, try to keep the ball in play, and go from there…. I think we’re all going to start playing better every round that goes by. It’s just still early days in the tournament. Can’t expect to play your best against the best players in the world in that first match.”
“Not a whole lot to hang my head about,” said Sock, who is making his London debut. “Obviously, (I) would like to start out with a win instead– especially being right there. It was a couple points. Had some looks to get back on serve in the first. Yeah, he came up with some good shots in the breaker. Other than that, it was a close match.”
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decent from Fed
Harrison!!
They giving Nadal good -300 odds for tomorrow because there is talk about nadals knee problems.i don’t buy that crap. Gonna put my rent money on Nadal vs sock.
Nadal can’t play Sock until at least the semis
Roger Federer did just enough to win the match and not an inch more http://www.138mph.com/tennis-federer-subdues-jack-sock-in-the-atp-finals-in-london-and-the-americans-win-the-fed-cup/
“Federer and Rafa Nadal are the greatest modern rivals in tennis, but they’re also great friends.
I’m personally a big fan. Did an illustration of these guys a while back.
You can check it out and download it for free if you want on the following link:
https://capturedinart.com/collections/sports-1/products/fedal3pwa
Let me know what you think :)”