Federer cruises past Tipsarevic

  • Last Updated: November 6 2012, 18:15 GMT

Roger Federer wasted little time in opening the defence of his Barclays ATP World Tour Finals crown with a 6-3 6-1 victory over Janko Tipsarevic at London's O2 Arena.

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Federer: Comfortable victory
Federer: Comfortable victory

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The Swiss star is looking for a hat-trick of titles in Greenwich and a seventh at the tournament overall having set a new record with his final triumph over Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 12 months ago.

Federer opted against defending his Paris Masters crown last week to prepare for London and he certainly looked sharp as he brushed aside the challenge of Tipsarevic.

  • Two-time defending champion Roger Federer begins his ATP World Tour Finals campaign against Janko Tipsarevic
  • The Swiss maestro makes a fast start by taking the opening set 6-3
  • Tipsarevic struggles to stay in the game as Federer continues to dominate
  • Federer races through the second set, taking it 6-1 to complete an easy victory
  • Earlier in the day Frederik Nielsen and Briton Jonathan Marray made their way into the O2 Arena for their opening doubles match.
  • Their opponents are Rohan Bopanna and Mahesh Bhupathi.
  • Wimbledon champions Nielsen and Marray are quickly into their stride and take the first set 6-4.
  • The second set is even tighter and goes to a tie break.
  • It goes the way of the Indian duo to take the match into a champions tie break.
  • Nielsen and Marray celebrate after winning a dramatic deciding set 12-10 to delight the London crowd
  • In the evening match, Juan Martin Del Potro battles it out with David Ferrer
  • The Spaniard wins the opening set 6-3
  • Del Potro hit back to force a decider
  • Ferrer proves too good for Del Potro
The best pictures from the second day's play at the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals at London's O2 Arena.

The Serb did play in the French capital but retired during the third set of his clash with eventual runner-up Jerzy Janowicz because of dizziness and admitted yesterday he was not feeling 100 per cent.

Federer took control from the off, to the delight of his many fans in the arena, breaking the Tipsarevic serve in the second game and cruising through the rest of the first set.

Tipsarevic, a direct entrant here because of Rafael Nadal's withdrawal through injury, had never beaten Federer in five previous meetings so the omens were not good.

He held serve at the start of the second set but from there the second seed did not lose a game, polishing off victory in only an hour and eight minutes.

The win also earned Federer another piece of history as it was his 40th in the competition, moving him ahead of Ivan Lendl, with whom he had jointly held the record.

Federer declared himself in good shape after his week off, which followed a final defeat by Juan Martin Del Potro in his home town of Basle.

He said: "I'm happy that I feel fine just in time. I still had some little things I had to work through the last couple of days. Really since yesterday I feel fine. So obviously it was good for me to start on Tuesday.

"I'm happy with my performance today. I have no pain anymore anywhere. I'm happy with my level of play today against Janko, who is obviously a good player."

As well as another record on the court, Federer also made history off the court this week when he was voted fans' favourite in the ATP World Tour awards for a 10th straight year.

The 31-year-old credited the support he receives for his longevity, saying: "It really seems to be everywhere I go I get a lot of fan support. So for me that's a big thrill, probably one of the reasons also I'm still playing today.

"No doubt about it, they are inspiring me and motivating me to show up every day in practice, on the match courts, and give my best, because I do feel I have big support and I do feel I need to reward them for their support."

Tipsarevic refused to blame his problems with illness for the defeat, and said: "I think Roger was just too good.

"I have not been feeling great for the last couple of days. But even in the previous matches that I played Roger, I wasn't having that much success, as you can see.

"I definitely won't blame the loss today on my medical situation. I probably would have lost anyway, but the problem was that he got an early break in both sets.

"Everybody knows that when Roger starts leading, he is probably the best player in the world when he's a break up early in the set. I gave it my best shot. It just didn't work today."

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