| ATP Finals | |
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| Venue: The 02 Arena, London Dates: 12-19 November | |
| Coverage: Watch live on BBC Two, Red Button, BBC Sport website and mobile app, listen on BBC Radio 5 live sports extra and follow text updates online. | |
Six-time champion Roger Federer opened with a straight-set win over Jack Sock at the ATP Finals in London.
The 36-year-old Swiss, making his 15th appearance at the season-ending event for the top eight players in the world, won 6-4 7-6 (7-4) at the O2 Arena.
American Sock was making his tournament debut, having qualified by winning the Paris Masters a week ago.
Alexander Zverev beat Marin Cilic 4-6 6-3 6-4 in Sunday’s second round-robin match in the Boris Becker Group.
German third seed Zverev broke serve in the opening game with a deft volley and took the first set, but Croatian fifth seed Cilic grew stronger as the match progressed and looked set for victory at 3-1 up in the decider.
However, 20-year-old Zverev showed why he has won two Masters titles this year as he reeled off five of six games, breaking serve to love to clinch victory.
“For the most part of the second and third sets he was the better player, I was just happy to come back and get the win,” said Zverev.
The Pete Sampras Group starts on Monday, with Dominic Thiem taking on Grigor Dmitrov at 14:00 GMT followed by Rafael Nadal against David Goffin at 20:00. Jamie Murray and Bruno Soares begin their doubles campaign at 12:00.
Defending champion Andy Murray, five-time winner Novak Djokovic and three-time Grand Slam champion Stan Wawrinka are among a number of players who chose to end their seasons early to recover from injuries.
Federer lost just four points behind his first serve as he came through an entertaining match without facing a break point.
Sock, 25, never looked like causing an upset after dropping his opening service game but clung on impressively in the second set before the pressure eventually told.
Federer served out the opener after 36 minutes but could not close it out in the second as five break points slipped by across the seventh, ninth and 11th games.
For the first time in four meetings. Sock managed to take the 19-time Grand Slam champion to a tie-break, but a double fault from the American at 4-5 handed Federer a match point that he clinically converted.
“I got off to a great start, my big hope was I was going to be able to play a bit more freely after that,” said Federer.
“The second set was tight, I missed some opportunities, the breaker could have gone either way and in the end he helped me with some double faults and some mistakes.
“I’m really happy that I got through somehow.”
Federer last won the season-ending title back in 2011, but he is the favourite to add a seventh victory to his extraordinary CV at the end of a year when he has won two more Grand Slam titles.
It is a far cry from 12 months ago, when the Swiss was absent through injury, while Murray and Djokovic – themselves missing this year – battled for the year-end number one ranking.
“It’s wonderful to be back, especially after missing last year with injury,” said Federer.
“It was tough not to be here but at the same time I really enjoyed the battle for number one between Andy and Novak.”
Nadal, 31, has had a similarly spectacular return to form in 2017, winning the other two major titles and ending the year as world number one.
Receiving a trophy on court following the opening match, the Spaniard said: “It has been a fantastic season, a very emotional one after all of the things I have been going through in the last couple of years with injury.
“To have this trophy again is something I never thought was possible.”
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In Group Pete Sampras, the Monday afternoon clash between Grigor Dimitrov and Dominic Thiem could go a long way to…
The United States won the Fed Cup for the first time in 17 years with a dramatic victory over Belarus in Minsk.
Coco Vandeweghe and Shelby Rogers beat Aryna Sabalenka and Aliaksandra Sasnovich 6-3 7-6 (7-3) in the deciding doubles rubber to give the visitors a 3-2 win in the best-of-five tie.
Sasnovich had earlier beaten US Open champion Sloane Stephens 4-6 6-1 8-6 in a thrilling match to force a decider.
Stephens has now lost all six matches since winning the title in New York.
Belarus were playing in their first Fed Cup final, and were without their leading player as two-time Grand Slam champion Victoria Azarenka is unwilling to travel during a custody battle over her son.
Vandeweghe, the world number 10, put the US into a 2-1 lead with a 7-6 (7-5) 6-1 win over Sabalenka, ranked 78th, in Sunday’s opening singles rubber.
However, the 87th-ranked Sasnovich then came back from 5-2 down in the final set to upset world number 13 Stephens and set up a doubles decider.
The class of the American squad, missing Serena and Venus Williams, eventually told as Vandeweghe and Rogers came from behind in the second set to win in straight sets.
It is the first US victory since the team of Lisa Raymond, Lindsay Davenport, Monica Seles and Jennifer Capriati in 2000.
They have now won the Fed Cup 18 times, extending their lead over the Czech Republic/Czechoslovakia, who have 10 titles.
“I’m just really thrilled for all four players,” said US captain Kathy Rinaldi.
“CoCo came out and just played unbelievable, Shelby stepped up, and Sloane – my heart was broken for her, but she battled this whole weekend, she battled all the way to the end. I’m so proud of all four of them.”
Vandeweghe, 25, is the first player to win eight Fed Cup rubbers in a year since the current format was introduced in 2005.
“It was a lot of work and a lot of dedication to the Fed Cup, in each and every round,” said Vandeweghe.
“To dedicate my time and energy through my season to be able to perform the best I could for Team USA.”
Six-time champion Roger Federer opened with a straight-set win over Jack Sock at the ATP Finals in London.
Ryan Harrison and Michael Venus got off to a winning start in Group Eltingh/Haarhuis at the Nitto ATP Finals on Sunday by denting the aspirations of Henri Kontinen and John Peers, who are vying to become year-end No. 1 in the Emirates ATP Doubles Team Rankings.
Eighth seeds Harrison and Venus, this year’s Roland Garros champions and making their debuts at The O2 this week, defeated second seeds Kontinen and Peers 6-4, 7-6(8) in 90 minutes.
Peers came under extreme pressure in his first three service games – resulting in deciding deuce points on each occasion. Harrison and Venus got their reward on Peers’ serve at 4-4, when Kontinen hit a forehand volley into the net.
Harrison and Venus continued to play aggressively and in the ninth game broke Kontinen on a deciding deuce point. However, Venus was unable to close out the match as Kontinen and Peers upped the power level to take the set to a tie-break.
Harrison and Venus were unable to convert match points at 6/5 and 8/7, saving a set point at 6/7, prior to closing out their 19th match win of the season. They now have a 2-1 FedEx ATP Head2Head record against Kontinen and Peers, including a victory at the Western & Southern Open in Cincinnati in August.
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It was Kontinen and Peers’ first loss at the Nitto ATP Finals, which they won last year.
Harrison and Venus’ victory means that Lukas Kubot and Marcelo Melo, who are competing in Group Woodforde/Woodbridge this week, could clinch the year-end doubles team No. 1 ranking on Monday should they win their first round-robin group match.
Debuting at the World Tour Finals on Sunday evening, Alexander Zverev this week looks to further establish himself…