Roger Federer and Milos Raonic will take center stage on the first night in London. Their round-robin showdown on Sunday is a rematch of a recent Paris Masters quarterfinal, which Raonic won to clinch his spot in the year-end championship.
Roger Federer and Milos Raonic will be squaring off for the eighth time in their careers and for the second time in little more than a week when they meet again in Group B round-robin action at the World Tour Finals on Sunday night.
They just faced each other in the Paris Masters quarters, with Raonic scoring a 7-6(5), 7-5 upset. Based on head-to-head series, to say that win came unexpectedly would be an understatement. Federer had won all six of their previous encounters and was 14-3 in total sets, having won 10 in a row. The Swiss beat Raonic twice in 2014 prior to Paris; 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 in the Wimbledon semifinals and 6-2, 6-3 in the Cincinnati semis.
Despite ending in losses to Federer, those were two of Raonic’s most important results en route to his first-ever London berth. The eighth-ranked Canadian, who has compiled a 49-18 record this year, has been consistent from start to finish aside from a brief slump earlier this fall. Raonic rebounded from that cold spell to beat Jack Sock, Roberto Bautista, Agut, Federer, and Tomas Berdych on his way the final.
Federer has not lost to anyone other than Raonic since the U.S. Open. This hot streak includes a pair of Davis Cup singles wins (he still has the final at France later this month) and titles in Shanghai and Basel. The world No. 2’s 68-11 record put him comfortably in the year-end championship for the 13th time in his career and also has him in mathematical contention for the year-end top ranking.
It is hard to see Federer going down to Raonic twice in succession, and not just because of the majority of their past head-to-head history. Although the relatively low-bouncing surface is similar to what was in Paris, it is generally not one on which the underdog should be beating the 17-time slam champion. Furthermore, Federer is six-time winner of this event while Raonic has never play a single match at the O2 Arena.
Pick: Federer in 2
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