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SPORTS Monday 11 noveMber 2019

Thiem beats Federer at ATP Finals;

Djokovic cruises

LONDON (AP) — Dominic to hit a total of 10 winners Berrettini was making his
Thiem keeps getting the in the match as Berrettini's debut at the event for
better of Roger Federer. 28 unforced errors handed the world's top eight play-
Thiem beat Federer 7-5, him an easy victory to start ers and had never faced
7-5 Sunday in their opening round-robin play. Djokovic before. He also
match at the ATP Finals for Berrettini's forehand was re- said he struggled a bit with
his fifth win in seven meet- sponsible for 18 of those er- the speed of the indoor
ings with the Swiss great — rors, including two shots into hard court at the O2.
and third straight this year. the net to hand Djokovic "The ball is not jumping a
Thiem broke in the opening the only two breaks of the lot, so it's tough to mix, es-
game of the match and first set. pecially my forehand," Ber-
again for a 6-5 lead in the After giving up that lone rettini said. "I think it's better
first set after Federer had break to make it 4-1 in when I have a little bit more
leveled at 2-2. the second, Djokovic time and the ball takes
The second set went with broke right back and then more spin. I think I started
serve until Thiem broke at clinched the victory with the match pretty good, but
love for another 6-5 lead. an easy forehand putaway he was just better than me
Federer, a record six-time at the net. today." The other four-man
champion at the ATP Fi- "He missed a relatively easy group features Rafael Nad-
nals, then missed two break forehand for him that gave al, defending champion
points in the next game be- me a break (in the first set)," Alexander Zverev, Stefanos
fore netting a backhand Djokovic said. "And after Tsitispas and Daniil Medve- Austria's Dominic Thiem plays a return to Switzerland's Roger Fe-
return on Thiem's second that I started reading his dev. They begin play on derer during their ATP World Tour Finals singles tennis match at
match point. serve better." Monday.q the O2 Arena in London, Sunday, Nov. 10, 2019. Associated Press
Thiem also beat Federer at
the Madrid Masters and in
the Indian Wells final this
year, but lost to him in the
group stage at last year's
ATP Finals.
Novak Djokovic had a
much easier start to the
tournament, easing past
Matteo Berrettini 6-2, 6-1
in their first round-robin
match.
But despite a near flawless
performance, Djokovic still
found a way to berate him-
self.
Leading 4-0 in the sec-
ond set against the Italian,
Djokovic hit a backhand
wide to concede a break
to the Italian, and then an-
grily turned toward his play-
er's box and shouted out his
frustration.
It was a clear sign that
even at the end of another
grueling season, Djokovic
won't tolerate any dips in
his game as he pursues a
record-equaling sixth ATP
Finals title.
"There's no other reason-
able explanation (to that
reaction) than trying to
play as perfect as possible,"
Djokovic said. "But I guess
that's me, you know."
It was certainly the same
Djokovic that the O2 Are-
na crowd has become
used to seeing. Although
the second-ranked Serb
— who won four straight
titles at the year-end event
in London between 2012
and 2015 — only needed