Control of Group B in London will be the reward for either Roger Federer or Kei Nishikori on Tuesday. They are coming off respective victories over Milos Raonic and Any Murray.
Roger Federer and Kei Nishikori will be going head-to-head for the fifth time in their careers when they do battle in the second stage of World Tour Finals Group B round-robin action on Tuesday afternoon.
They have split their four previous encounters at two wins apiece, including 1-1 on hard courts. Sandwiched in between two victories for Federer, Nishikori’s triumphs came last year on the clay courts of Madrid (6-4, 1-6, 6-2) and earlier this season in the Miami quarterfinals (3-6, 7-5, 6-4). Their most recent meeting took place on the grass of Halle, where Federer prevailed 6-3, 7-6(4).
Both men got off to a 1-0 start on Sunday and the winner of this showdown will be in perfect shape–if not clinched by the end of the day–for a place in the semifinals. Nishikori kicked off the week with a 6-4, 6-4 defeat of Andy Murray before Federer downed Milos Raonic 6-1, 7-6(0).
Federer has lost only one match since the U.S. Open (to Raonic in Paris), a stretch that includes titles in Shanghai and Basel. Nishikori also owns two titles in his fall collection–Kuala Lumpur and Tokyo. Combined, they are a whopping 28-3 since the Grand Slam season ended.
As their past history against each other indicates, this one should be competitive–especially with each competitor playing so well right now. Nishikori causes for problems for Federer by playing right on top of the baseline and taking away his opponent’s timing, most affecting the Swiss’ one-handed backhand. On the other hand, the world No. 5 served at a mere 46 percent against Murray and double-faulted eight times. Federer fired five aces, double-faulted twice, and never dropped serve versus Raonic. If Nishikori is unable to dictate baseline play–and he won’t be able to if those serving trends continue–he will be in serious trouble.
Pick: Federer in 3
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Hope this is more interesting to watch than the matches played so far. I think it was rite who predicted this year’s WTF would be a sleep fest
zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
auto correct at work. I wrote RITB
Can’t remember that prediction to be honest, @ed251137. That said, haven’t watched any of the matches yet……….
Yawn…………..
https://twitter.com/letstalktennis1/status/531729906590580736/photo/1
Why does Fed call Stan Stanley? Isn’t his given name Stanislas?
Why do you care?
Why do you care that I care?
Fed fans are so touchy these days, I wonder why? Their guy is winning matches, he is healthy. It’s us Rafans who have every reason to be touchy but are we? NO!
Hmmmm………
you’re no rafa fan
Hmmm………..didn’t know I was that transparent. Do tell……………
What’s the matter @snowdevil? Even by your standards, this level of grumpiness is a little much. Chin up, Fed’s cleaning house at WTF!
Pretty poor show from Nishikori so far
vamosrafa,
Yes, it was a disappointing performance from Nishi. The commentators were really getting on him for missing so many shots that he always makes.
Honestly, I stopped watching the replay because it just wasn’t interesting enough for me.
Missed the match this afternoon: scoreline suggests it was the fifth match so far that has been below par.
it was. Fed was good. Nishi was NOT.
Wasn’t able to watch this afternoon but the scoreline suggests that was the fifth singles match that was underwhelming…………..thank goodness for the doubles.
Apologies. Thought my first comment had not gone through. Have to keep clearing history and passwords because of a problem with buffering for TennisTV and forget each time to re-sign in here hence the Anonymous comments.
Rafa is missed, even Pete Bodo says so.
Federer reminds us why we need Rafa
November, 11, 2014
NOV 11 12:40 pm ET
By Peter Bodo | ESPN.com
In truth, Nadal has never loved the WTF, and he survived the preliminaries to play a final just twice — losing on both occasions. Nadal may not always have found his A-game in the grand finale, but he always brought his A-effort. A few of this year’s players might take a cue from that as the rest of this event plays out.
http://tt.tennis-warehouse.com/showthread.php?t=517603
‘A few of this year’s players might take a cue from that as the rest of this event plays’ out..
Good for Bodo for spelling out this year’s WTF is a turning into a Mickey Mouse event.
Pretty much the consensus around the web: this WTF should be WBF (World Bore Finals)