Ideal start for Jamie Murray at ATP Finals but defeat for Roger Federer
Jamie Murray got his ATP Finals campaign off to a winning start at London's O2 Arena but Roger Federer lost his opening match.
Slow start for Federer
Roger Federer lost his opening round-robin match at the tournament for the first time.
The 37-year-old Swiss is bidding to win his 100th career singles title, as well as record a seventh ATP Finals crown, and a first since 2011.
Federer had won his previous 15 opening matches at the season-ending event, but put in an error-strewn display against Kei Nishikori.
Nishikori, the world number nine from Japan, had lost his previous six matches against Federer but, after winning a first-set tie-break, held his nerve to rack up a surprise but thoroughly deserved 7-6 (7/4) 6-3 victory.
"I'm glad to win, it's never easy to play with my idol," said Nishikori.
"It's always a big challenge to play Roger. The first match is not easy, both of us were playing a bit out, but the second set was better.
"I lost to him twice in the last two months so I played more aggressively and things started working, especially in the second set. There were some lucky points but I played well today."
Federer admitted his practice has been "a bit all over the place" but had no excuses.
"I felt we both struggled throughout the first set. You could tell it was sort of a first round," he said.
"I had my chances maybe a bit more than he did. Then I started to feel better in the second set. I think we both did. The level went up but unfortunately I couldn't keep the lead that I got early."
Murray up and running
Jamie Murray got his ATP Finals campaign off to a winning start at London's O2 Arena.
The Scot and Brazilian partner Bruno Soares, seeded fourth at the season-ending event, beat South Africa's Raven Klaasen and Michael Venus of New Zealand.
Murray and Soares, two-time semi-finalists in London, took the first set on a tie-break, dropped the second, but then won the match tie-break to wrap up 7-6 (7/5) 4-6 10-5 victory.
Ideal debut for Anderson
Kevin Anderson marked his 02 debut with victory over Austria's Dominic Thiem in the first singles match.
The 32-year-old South African, who was Wimbledon runner-up this year on his way to climbing to number six in the world, won 6-3 7-6 (12/10) in an hour and 47 minutes.
Anderson dropped just four points on his serve in a dominant opening set while forcing seven break points against the occasionally erratic Thiem serve.
He only required one of them to clinch the first set, and although French Open finalist Thiem improved markedly in the second he could not make any inroads on the Anderson serve.
Instead, Thiem was edged out in a 17-minute tie-break after Anderson converted a fourth match point with his 13th ace of the match.
"I think it was important going out there and getting off to a good start," said Anderson afterwards.
"I definitely felt a little bit nervous. But I was able to settle very quickly and find a really good rhythm, taking care of my serve games nicely, creating quite a few opportunities on his serve.
"He wasn't serving at a very high first-serve percentage. I felt I was getting into quite a few points.
"The second set could have been anybody's set. He started serving well. I was taking care of my serve games.
"When it's 12-10 in the tie-break, it really could have gone either way. I think overall just getting off to a good start helped me a lot today."
Related tennis links
MOST READ
Next Off
Fixtures & Results
