RICKY DIMON FLIES “RED EYE ” NOT TO MISS THIS : FEDERER, NISHIKORI BEGIN WORLD TOUR FINALS WITH ROUND-ROBIN VICTORIES @02 ARENA IN LONDON

Written by: Staff on 9th November 2014

RICKY DIMON FLIES "RED EYE " NOT TO MISS THIS : FEDERER, NISHIKORI BEGIN WORLD TOUR FINALS WITH ROUND-ROBIN VICTORIES @02 ARENA IN LONDON

epa04483281 Roger Federer of Switzerland returns the ball against Milos Raonic of Canada in the singles group B match at the men's ATP World Tour Finals tennis tournament at the O2 Arena in London, Britain, 09 November 2014. EPA/FACUNDO ARRIZABALAGA |

Editors note : both sessions were sell outs. Full house is 20,000. Tickets are still available for the rest of the week day / night sessions. Come on out. It’s a fantastic experience.

The afternoon crowd left the O2 Arena a little bit disappointed, but Sunday’s night-session fans got exactly what they came to see: vintage Roger Federer. Federer kicked off his 2014 World Tour Finals campaign with a 6-1, 7-6(0) round-robin win over Milos Raonic. That had been preceded by Andy Murray’s 6-4, 6-4 loss to Kei Nishikori.

Federer got off to a fast start by breaking serve right away for a 2-0 advantage in the first set. A shanked forehand by Raonic at 1-4 gave Federer another service break. Raonic performed far better in the second, to the extent that he probably should have won it. The eighth-ranked Canadian earned two break points at 2-1, another at 3-2, and a set point at 6-5. Federer thwarted the last one with a second serve off the line and he was off to the races in the ensuing tiebreaker.

The forehand battle doomed Raonic, who committed 16 unforced errors off that wing. Serving at 47 percent also did not help. Federer, meanwhile, struck 10 forehand winners compared to only four mistakes.

Milos Raonic of Canada returns the ball against Roger Federer of Switzerland in the singles group B match at the men’s ATP World Tour Finals tennis tournament at the O2 Arena in London, Britain, 09 November 2014. EPA/FACUNDO ARRIZABALAGA

“I believe he played better today” Raonic said, comparing this match to when he upset Federer little more than a week ago in Paris. “I started off not playing nearly as well, but I think I sort of found that Paris level that I had against him come the second set…. He was a lot more consistent [in] his return games. Today the big difference was when he would get his racket on the ball, he would make me play all the time.”

“I think I played really well for one and a half sets,” Federer explained. “It was good to get off to a get start. I broke (in the) first game and sort of never looked back.”

Japan’s Kei Nishikori returns to Britain’s Andy Murray during the ATP World Tour Finals mens tennis tournament at the O2 Arena in London, Britain, 09 November 2014. EPA/ANDY RAIN

Nishikori did not look back after recovering from a break down in his first set against Murray. But the Japanese star almost had the tables turned on him in the second. An apparent turning point came when Murray saved three break points–one in miraculous fashion–to hold while already trailing 3-0. The sixth-ranked Scot promptly evened things at 4-4, but success was short-lived as Nishikori held for 5-4 then broke serve with relative easy to clinch victory.

“The court is the same as Paris, so I was a little bit used to [it],” Nishikori explained. “But the stadium is huge. Maybe when I walked into the stadium, I was nervous. But (at the) same time I was really excited to play with this crowd. I was…honored to be here. I was really happy that I played good tennis [in] this situation.”

“You’re competing against the best players in the world,” Murray reflected. “And Kei is obviously playing well just now, so I knew that [losing in straight sets] was a possibility. But it’s still obviously disappointing to lose the first match. Yeah, I would have liked to have done better.”

Ricky contributes to 10sballs.com and also maintains his own tennis website, The Grandstand.

Topics: 02 Arena, Andy Murray, atp workd tour finals, Federer, Kei Nishikori, London, milos raonic, Ricky Dimon, Tennis

Follow 10SBALLS.COM on:

Facebook:

Twitter:

10sBalls_com says:

November 9, 2014 at 5:28 pm

@RD_Tennistalk FLIES “RED EYE” NOT TO MISS THIS: @rogerfederer, @keinishikori BEGIN WORLD TOUR FINALS WITH… http://t.co/pjJOsfjVoD #tennis
RD_Tennistalk says:

November 9, 2014 at 5:55 pm

RT @10sBalls_com: @RD_Tennistalk FLIES “RED EYE” NOT TO MISS THIS: @rogerfederer, @keinishikori BEGIN WORLD TOUR FINALS WITH… http://t.co…