LONDON, November 14, 2019
Roger Federer reached his 16th Nitto ATP Finals semi-finals with an impressive 6-4, 6-3 round-robin match win in Group Björn Borg against Novak Djokovic of Serbia. In Thursday night’s winner-takes-all clash, the Swiss maestro struck 12 aces and won 81 per cent of his first-service points to prevail after one hour and 13 minutes.
SWEET REDEMPTION FOR ROGER!@rogerfederer has defeated Novak Djokovic and has made the #NittoATPFinals semis!
🎥: @TennisTV pic.twitter.com/rOBZ7Dlf5k
— ATP Tour (@atptour) November 14, 2019
The pair have not met since Djokovic saved match points to win Wimbledon’s longest singles final in July.
“It was a great atmosphere, a great opponent, here at the O2, incredibly special, I enjoyed it from the beginning. I played incredibly well and I knew I had to because that’s what Novak can do,” Federer said during his post match on-court interview.
“What did I do differently from Wimbledon? I won the match point I guess. At Wimbledon it was a privilege to play that match, with so many ups and downs. I played an incredible tournament and a point here or there made the difference. You move on, try harder next time round and hope the luck goes for you. I couldn’t be happier right now.”
Federer could now face a blockbuster semi-final against World No. 1 Rafael Nadal should the Spaniard defeat Stefanos Tsitsipas and hope Daniil Medvedev can beat Alexander Zverev in their final round-robin group match on Friday.
All to play for 😮
Group Andre Agassi’s semi-final scenarios for the last two spots. #NittoATPFinals pic.twitter.com/cdWzqXuWmo
— ATP Tour (@atptour) November 13, 2019
Dodig/Polasek win first match
Earlier in the evening, Ivan Dodig of Croatia and Filip Polasek from Slovakia, made their team debut at the Turkish Airlines Open Antalya in June, before capturing trophies at ATP Masters 1000-level in Cincinnati and ATP 500-level in Beijing, ended their season by beating Group Jonas Bjorkman winners Raven Klaasen of South Africa and Michael Venus from New Zealing 7-6(4), 6-4 in one hour and 24 minutes.
“It’s awesome to win here. The atmosphere throughout the week has been great. It’s been an unbelievable journey. I’m really happy we can finish the season with a win here. There’s no better feeling,” Polasek said.
“I think we had an amazing season. We played 11 tournaments together and now we’re here in London. To close the season with a win here is a great feeling. We’re looking forward to next year,” Dodig added.
