No problems at all for Roger Federer that concedes just 5 games to a struggling Nishikori.
The match wasn’t of the highest quality with Roger a bit shaky especially at the beginning (that backhand was a disaster) and Nishikori playing absolutely below par.
It seemed as Roger had the right recipe to make Kei uncomfortable with playing at his very best. The Swiss was using a lot his powerful kick serve on Nishikori’s back hand (and that wasn’t nice for the Japanese); in addition Kei wasn’t solid at all on the baseline and his serve was a sheer disaster (5 double faults most of them in important moments).
Eventually the match finished 6-3 6-2 after just 69 minutes. Match Stats.
Roger: I can make him uncomfortable
Federer commented “I think with my game, I have the capability of really making him feel uncomfortable, mixing it up. But it’s not always possible. He’s shown in the past when he gets the upper hand against any player from the baseline, he’s very difficult to beat. Today for some reason he couldn’t get it done. Maybe I was playing too well defense and offense, mixing up my serve good enough… It was really important to take advantage of the fact that I was feeling really good, and then maybe he was struggling a little bit today.
After this win Roger leads Nishikori 3-2 in the head to head matches. Federer will play Murray in the last match. Head to Head is 11-all with the Maestro being the favorite to win the match and the group.
Roger will not qualify only if he loses (badly) in 2 sets to Murray, Nishikori beats Raonic also in straight sets and the game ratio is “no good for the Swiss”. If Roger gets to the semis (as you can see that’s almost sure) it would be the 23th time at the World Tour Finals… no bad!
