London: Roger Federer reached yet another career milestone with victory over Janko Tipsarevic and David Ferrer dipped into his seemingly endless tank of stamina to beat Juan Martin del Potro on the second day of the ATP World Tour Finals on Tuesday. Swiss maestro Federer glided to a 6-3, 6-1 victory over outclassed Serbian Janko Tipsarevic to open his Group B account, taking his haul of victories at the elite year-ending event to 40 having qualified for an 11th consecutive year.
Another silky display from the 17-times grand slam champion took him past the record he shared with Ivan Lendl, the level of his play suggesting the 31-year-old world number two is still the man to beat at the tournament he has won a record six times.
Ferrer does not glide, rather hustles and bustles his way around the court, driving opponents to distraction with rock-like defences, punchy groundstrokes and speedy footwork. Del Potro will testify to that after the towering Argentine lost a fascinating duel 6-3, 3-6, 6-4 in front of a packed audience at the 17,000 O2 Arena alongside the River Thames.
Fourth seed Ferrer, whose victory was the 73rd of a season that has delivered a career-best seven titles, will face Federer on Thursday trying to gain a first victory at the 14th attempt. Hardly a cause for optimism in the Spanish camp but on current form few players, not even Federer, will relish a meeting with the player nicknamed the Iron Man....
08:53 AM, Nov 07, 2012
