ATP World Tour Finals Day 1 - Federer And Djokovic Win On Opening Day

Roger Federer won his opening group match at the ATP World Tour Finals after beating Tomas Berdych in straight sets.

Roger Federer in action (Picture from i.eurosport.com) 

The Swiss,  who is bidding for an unprecedented 7th title at the season end championships, made light work of his Czech opponent winning 6-4 6-2 in an hour and eight minutes.

Federer hasn’t won the tournament in London since 2011 due to the dominance of Novak Djokovic, who has won here on the last three occasions.

The Serb earlier recorded a resounding 6-1 6-1 victory over Japanese star Kei Nishikori, and is due to play Federer in his next round robin match.

That should be a closer encounter after both appeared to be in cruise control on day one.

Even so it was Berdych who made the better start in the opening group match, as he broke Federer to 0 in the second game of the match.

However the Czech’s lead was short lived as Federer hit back in the next game and began to flick through the gears.

Berdych has a bizarre record at these championships; each time he has played he has lost his first match but then gone on to win the second.

Once again it looked like Berdych would suffer an opening match defeat as Federer claimed a decisive break at 4-4 in the first set.

He went on to serve it out a game later before taking an early lead in the second.

From there he surged to victory and after his triumph he was rewarded with the ATP fans' favourite and sportsmanship awards.

"It's very special. I enjoy getting awards, especially ones by fans and fellow players. I try to do it with style, I play hard but it is nice to get this respect” said Federer after the match.

Federer’s match followed the doubles match which saw Florin Mergea and Rohan Bopanna beat Bob and Mike Bryan 6-4 6-3.

The other match in the group saw Jamie Murray and John Peers beat Fabio Fognini and Simone Bolelli in a sudden death tiebreak, 7-6 3-6 11-9.