Barclays ATP World Tour Finals, London

The last tournament on the ATP Tour got underway today in London.  There were no surprises in singles.  Djokovic was dominant as ever, crushing Nishikori 6-1, 6-1.  While Federer was not as dominant in his match, he was also victorious, defeating Berdych 6-4, 6-2.  Berdych had more opportunities to make this a more difficult encounter for Federer; however, once again, he failed to consolidate his advantage.  Federer may give you more opportunities now to defeat him, but you have to beat him, he will not give you the match.  He showed that again today when he bounced back from a disastrous first game and immediately broke back to break Berdych’s will. The second set was almost a blowout.  Federer lost a little focus towards the tail end of the match, but it was irrelevant.

The upset came in doubles; yet perhaps it was not as surprising.  The number one team of the Bryan brothers lost to the number eight team of Rohan Bopanna and Florin Mergea.  The brothers seem to relish adversity, having lost their first match in previous Finals and came back to win.  Thus, although a bit unsettling, I hope they will turn things around in their next two rounds.  They have not won a title since August in Montreal and will like to end their season on a positive note.  Winning this tournament would definitely help ease their frustration at not winning a Major title this year.  Jamie Murray and partner, John Peers, got off to a great start. Murray in his first ATP Tour Finals must be thrilled that they defeated Simone Bolelli and Fabio Fognini in a hard fought battle, 7-6(5), 3-6, 11-9.