Tennis:Roger Federer is one win away from a record sixth title at the ATP World Tour Finals after seeing off Spain's David Ferrer 7-5 6-3 in the semi-finals at the O2 Arena in London today.
The defending champion extended his winning streak to 16 matches and made it nine victories in a row at the end-of-season showpiece, while the result means he will retake third place in the rankings from Andy Murray next week.
It was not a vintage display from Federer, who was edgy in the first set in particular despite having won all his previous 11 meetings with Ferrer, but once he had secured the crucial break in the 11th game the outcome never seemed in doubt.
The 30-year-old, who shares the current record of five titles with Ivan Lendl and Pete Sampras, will face the winner of tonight’s clash between Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Tomas Berdych in his 100th career final tomorrow afternoon.
He said: “Obviously I’m very happy to have played so well again. That’s what it takes to beat David, he’s had an amazing season and an amazing tournament. He can still win the Davis Cup next week so I hope he does that.”
Federer began the tournament as the favourite and had strengthened that position considerably since, although he only found really top form in Tuesday’s thrashing of Rafael Nadal.
That really was a remarkable performance but he looked slightly tentative in the early stages here, perhaps over eager to shorten the points against the man known as ‘the wall’.
Ferrer returned to the court less than 16 hours after the end of his loss to Berdych last night and he was in trouble when he began the fifth game with two double faults but a sharp volley helped him stave off a break point.
Federer had the luxury of a day off yesterday but he seemed to be feeling the pressure and was snatching at shots and making a host of unforced errors.
He survived a game of five deuces serving to stay in the set at 4-5 and in the next game the 30-year-old moved up a level, winning a fine rally to force two break points, taking the second when Ferrer overcooked a forehand.
That should have been a weight off Federer’s shoulders and he served out the set with relative ease.
The Swiss then made the perfect start to the second, his forehand suddenly looking much more secure as he extended his winning streak to four games with a return thumped down the line.
Ferrer was not about to throw in the towel and he stopped the rot by holding for 1-2 with a scrambled backhand winner that said everything about the Spaniard’s tenacity.
He then saved two breaks to stay just about in the match but it was all over when Federer broke again in the final game, his attacking play finally overwhelming Ferrer.