Federer sees off Fish challenge

Roger Federer
12 April 2012

Defending champion Roger Federer maintained his perfect record at the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals this year with a 6-1 3-6 6-3 victory over Mardy Fish at the O2 Arena.

The world number four had already secured his place in the semi-finals with Tuesday's stunning win over Rafael Nadal, while Fish was playing purely for pride after two defeats.

The victory was Federer's eighth in a row at the tournament after he went through last year's event unbeaten, while he also made it 15 successive victories since the US Open.

It looked like being a very unhappy Thanksgiving for the American Fish, as Federer broke serve straight away and dominated the first set, but the second was a different story.

Fish, whose preparations for his first appearance at the end-of-season showpiece were hampered by a hamstring injury, took the fight to his opponent and began to have significant success, particularly on his forehand.

The 29-year-old broke for the first time in the fourth game and had chances in all Federer's service games, with the Swiss understandably not hitting the heights he found against Nadal.

In the end one break was enough, but Federer, who is looking for a record sixth title, upped the pace again at the start of the decider, and once he moved into a 3-0 lead there was no way back for Fish.

Federer felt his failure to reach the same heights he found against Nadal may have been down to the fact it was a dead rubber.

He said: "It's a matter of trying to do the exact same thing knowing I don't really need to win, but maybe because I know that somewhere you just don't play the same way. But I still have to give credit to Mardy. The first set wasn't as one-sided as the score suggested, and the second set he played great.

"He really started to zone in on many shots. I thought he was able to keep that up in the third set. So I was happy to get the crucial break early in the third and maybe cruise a bit more."

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