LONDON, November 12, 2019

Roger Federer has claimed his first win at this year’s Nitto ATP Finals with a straight-sets victory over Italy’s Matteo Berrettini in London’s O2-Arena on Tuesday afternoon. The No. 3 from Switzerland, who fell in his opening match in round-robin match in Group Bjorn Borg to Dominic Thiem, prevailed 7-6(2), 6-3.

Federer hit 24 winners and benefited from Berrettini’s 23 unforced errors. The Swiss maestro saved all three break points he faced and won 70 per cent of his first-service points to finish the encounter after one hour and 18 minutes.

58 #NittoATPFinals wins for @rogerfederer 😮

The six-time champ gets his first victory of the 2019 tournament defeating Berrettini in two sets.

🎥: @TennisTV pic.twitter.com/Fl5UkmdF9H

— ATP Tour (@atptour) November 12, 2019

“It’s unusual to lose and come back and play again. I did it last year, so I had some experience,” Federer said during his post-match on-court interview. “I am very happy, how I played today. It is always difficult to play against Matteo with his big serve. If you don’t get the read and don’t get the balls back the way you want, you’re going to be in trouble. He was doing a nice job in the first set.

“To get the early break in the second was key and then fend off all the break points. I was pretty clean on my own serve. That helped today and I hope that I can keep it up for the next match.”

The six-time champion will play Novak Djokovic for a spot in the stage of the last four at the season finale in his third round-robin match on Thursday.

Ram/Salisbury keep alive semi-final hopes

Earlier in the day, Rajeev Ram from the United States and Joe Salisbury of Great Britain won their first match at this year’s Nitto ATP Finals in Group Jonas Bjorkman. They kept alive their doubles semi-final hopes with a 3-6, 6-3, 10-6 victory over Ivan Dodig from Croatia and Filip Polasek of Slovakia. The No. 4 seeds lost their opener on Sunday to Marcelo Melo of Brazil and Lukasz Kubot from Poland.

Salisbury, the lone British player at London’s O2-Arena this week, is playing at the season-ending event for the first time. “We needed to win to stay in it,” the 27-year-old said. “I think we will have to win the next one as well, but we’re feeling better. The crowd’s support was incredible.”