ATP Finals 2018 Day 5: Federer, Anderson qualify for semi-finals; Thiem, Nishikori crash out
After two rounds of lopsided wins in the Lleyton Hewitt group, it was finally time to decide the two players who would reach the semi-finals from the group. At the start of Day 5, all the four players were still in the hunt to advance to the next round.
First up, it was Kei Nishikori who took on Dominic Thiem, after both had had poor outings in their previous matches. It was Thiem who came up with a brilliant performance to send the Japanese packing, defeating him 6-1, 6-4 to somehow still stay alive in the race for a semi-final spot.
Nishikori started the match very poorly and went down a break immediately, making a couple of unforced errors and double faults to give Thiem a perfect 2-0 start. With those two games in the bag for the Austrian, it meant that Kevin Anderson would make the semi-final lineup in his first appearance at the ATP Finals.
Nishikori, though, started hitting the ball a lot better after getting on the scoreboard, unlike his previous match where he simply failed to get any rhythm, and generated four break points in the fifth game. But Thiem came up with some heavy hitting off the back of the court to hold on and take a 4-1 lead.
Even after playing a very good return game, the Japanese continued to struggle on serve. He played another poor game in the sixth, failing to put enough first serves in and making a lot of errors off the forehand wing, and eventually got broken again to give the Austrian a double break advantage.
Thiem then put in a solid hold and took the first set 6-1 to keep himself in contention for making the last four.
In the second set, both players started off playing very well on serve. But at 3-3, 40-30, Nishikori made a double fault and an unforced error to hand Thiem a break point.
The Austrian pounced on the opportunity, crushing a backhand down the line to go up a set and a break.
Thiem, then, came up with two strong holds to close out the set and with it the match, thereby knocking out the Japanese No. 1 and still remaining alive in the semi-final race.
Although Nishikori had a poor outing, Thiem played a lot better than his previous match where he kept spraying the ball all over the court off both wings. That improvement most probably had to do with a change of strings on his racquet.
Thiem’s straight sets win meant that Roger Federer now needed to win just six games to guarantee a spot in semis. But both Kevin Anderson and Federer were still looking to post a win in order to avoid Novak Djokovic in the semi-final.
So in the final and most awaited match of the Lleyton Hewitt group, Federer clashed with Anderson to decide who would top the group. And it was the Swiss who took some sweet revenge for his Wimbledon defeat a few months ago in the same city, with a straightforward 6-4, 6-3 win.
Both players started well on their serve, but at 3-3, Federer played a good return game with a little help from Anderson and got the important break. Federer then played a poor game of his own though, making three unforced errors off the forehand wing and handing the break right back to the South African to even the set.
In a strange turn of events, Anderson was unable to get going on serve once again and got broken right back, losing eight points in a row on serve.
Then, despite going down 0-40 while trying to serve for the set, Federer came up with some great serves and closed out the opener 6-4. And with that, he guaranteed his place in the semi-finals for the 15th time in 16 appearances at the ATP Finals.
In the second set, once again both men played extremely well on serve, with neither of them facing a break point till the middle of the set. But just like in the first set, at 3-3, Anderson played a poor game, making three unforced errors, and gave the break advantage to Federer.
Unlike the first set though, Federer didn’t have a hiccup while consolidating the lead this time. After holding comfortably he broke the South African’s serve once again to hand him his first defeat at the season-ending finale and finish the Group Lleyton Hewitt in pole position.