World Tour Finals preview and prediction: Federer vs. Berdych

Familiar foes will be facing each other during the opening night session of the World Tour Finals on Sunday. Roger Federer and Tomas Berdych are set for their first round-robin match of the week.

Roger Federer and Tomas Berdych will be doing battle for the 21st time in their careers when they meet in Group Stan Smith competition at the World Tour Finals on Sunday night.

Federer owns a 14-6 lead in the head-to-head series, but it is an even more competitive 7-4 in the Swiss’ favor on either hard courts or carpet. Both of their previous encounters this season were positively dominated by Federer–6-4, 6-0 in the Indian Wells quarterfinals and 6-3, 6-3 on the clay courts of Rome. Berdych last upset the 17-time Grand Slam champion in the 2013 Dubai semis via a 3-6, 7-6(8), 6-4 decision.

Beating the top players has been a struggle for Berdych of late, so it should come as little surprise that each of his two titles in 2015 has come at the 250-point level. But the sixth-ranked Czech should be heading into London with some confidence, because he lifted both trophies in October after going the first nine months of the season without a title. Berdych is a stellar 57-19 for his 2015 campaign and coming off consecutive quarterfinal performances at Masters events in Shanghai and Paris.

Federer is looking to bounce back from a third-round Paris loss to John Isner. The 34-year-old Swiss has cooled off just a bit since a torrid summer, as he also bowed out early from the Shanghai Masters (lost his opening match to Albert Ramos-Vinolas in three sets). But Federer at least managed to triumph in Basel, bringing his collection of 2015 titles to six.

This is the world No. 3’s 14th appearance at the year-end championship and he boasts a career record of 48-11. Federer went undefeated through four matches last year in London before being forced to withdraw from the final against Novak Djokovic because of a back injury. He has won the tournament six times–including twice in London–but has not prevailed since going back-to-back in 2010 and 2011.

Berdych is 6-10 lifetime in five appearances at this prestigious tournament. Only once has he advanced out of the round-robin stage–in 2011, when he pushed Djokovic to a third-set tiebreaker, defeated Janko Tipsarevic and David Ferrer, then fell to Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the semifinals.

Based on both current form and past history in London, Federer has clear edge in this one. Berdych, though, will certainly make things interesting–much unlike a smorgasbord of straightforward affairs at the 2014 World Tour Finals–if he showcases similar tennis to what was on display in a 7-6(3), 7-6(8) loss to Djokovic in the Paris quarters.

Pick: Federer in 2 with at least one tiebreaker

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