Roger Federer beats Matteo Berrettini in straight sets to keep ATP Finals hopes alive

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Joe Krishnan12 November 2019

Roger Federer secured his first win at the ATP Finals after seeing off Matteo Berrettini in straight sets ahead of his clash with Novak Djokovic.

The 38-year-old needed a tiebreak in the first set to get past the young Italian but sealed victory with a more straightforward second set, eventually winning 7-6, 6-3 in an hour and 17 minutes on court at the O2 Arena.

Both players had lost their opening matches in disappointing fashion, with Berrettini battered by the indomitable Djokovic while Federer suffered a shock loss at the hands of Dominic Thiem.

Neither player was willing to give an inch on their serve and it remained that way throughout the entirely of the first set, with 12 consecutive holds, after Federer failed to take advantage of the only break point at 6-5 up.

But the Swiss had no such trouble in the tiebreak, capitalising on some crucial errors from Berrettini to take the tiebreak 7-2.

Despite the talk about Berrettini's fierce serve, it was Federer who led the ace count 6-4 and with 86 per cent of his points won on first serve.

The way that Federer dominated the tiebreak seemed to kill any momentum Berrettini had left. Straight away, he found himself under pressure at three break points down and hit a feeble backhand into the net.

Federer isn't used to being gifted games like that but he sure was going to take advantage of it, consolidating the break to lead 2-0.

As Federer had shown countless times in his career before, he kept his opponent at an arm's length, barely giving him a sniff on his serve and doing enough to unsettle Berrettini on his service.

The eighth seed had undoubtedly improved since his opening match but his unforced errors were piling up - 22 to Federer's 11. But he did finally get the chance to break back, only to squander three break points before Federer staved off the challenge to go 5-3 up.

By that point, Berrettini's confidence was shot and Federer managed to wrap up victory with a break of serve, conserving any energy for his final group match with Djokovic.

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