Day Five of the Nitto ATP Finals in London featured the final series of round robin matches from Group Lleyton Hewitt, and determined the group’s two semi finalists.
Group Guga Kuerten
Novak Djokovic (1)
Sascha Zverev (3)
Marin Cilic (5)
John Isner (8)
Group Lleyton Hewitt
Roger Federer (2)
Kevin Anderson (4)
Dominic Thiem (6)
Kei Nishikori (7)
Day Five round robin matches
Dominic Thiem (6) defeated Kei Nishikori (7)
A Kei Nishikori victory was necessary for him to remain in contention for a semi final spot. Thiem needed to win decisively in two sets, and hope for a Federer loss to Anderson in straight, without taking many games of the South African.
Well the Austrian began smartly, breaking Nishikori in the second game of the opening set, with backhand depth and a confident forehand producing a number of Japanese errors.
Nishikori’s inability to convert four break points in the set, and his poor percentage of points won on serve, made the job of Thiem much easier and the sixth seed took out the set 6-1
Nishikori played some excellent net tennis to avoid being broken early in set two, but errors ultimately brought Thiem a chance to crack open the set, and a backhand down the line achieved a crucial break in the seventh game.
Nishikori forced Thiem to serve out the match, which he duly did 6-1 6-4
Kei Nishikori was eliminated from the tournament as a result.
Dominic Thiem was still alive, but only mathematically.
All Roger Federer needed to do was win five games against Kevin Anderson in the final round robin match, and Thiem would meet the same fate as Nishikori.
Roger Federer (2) defeated Kevin Anderson (4) 6-4 6-3
The pair exchanged service breaks in the first two games of the match, but beyond that Federer controlled everything, especially using his backhand slice to full effect.
Federer was damaging when returning the tall South African second serve, winning seven of eleven points. Two break points came the Swiss master’s way, and he ate them up with relish.
The set was wrapped up and locked securely in Roger’s Swiss bank account 6-4.
Set two was bubbling along through six games, without threatening to boil over, but Federer turned the heat up in game seven, and Anderson melted on the break point.
Federer, facing no break challenges, won the final three games of the set and match to triumph 6-4 6-3, and top Group Lleyton Hewitt.
Kevin Anderson finished second in the group, after being the front runner. Federer came back strongly following a poor showing on Day One.
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