Federer Qualifies For Barclays ATP World Tour Finals

© Getty ImagesRoger Federer in action Monday night at the US Open.

World No. 2 Roger Federer has secured his place in the season-ending Barclays ATP World Tour Finals, to be held at The O2 in London, 21-28 November. The Swiss clinched his berth after beating Argentine Brian Dabul in the first round of the US Open Monday night. The season-ending tournament on the ATP World Tour features the world’s top eight singles players and eight doubles teams competing to be officially crowned as the 2010 ATP World Tour Champions.
 
Federer, a five-time ATP World Tour Champion (2004-07, '09), joins current World No. 1 Rafael Nadal as the only singles players to have clinched their berths in this year’s Barclays ATP World Tour Finals. Nadal finished as ATP World Tour Champion two years ago and has held No. 1 since 7 June, after capturing his fifth Roland Garros crown.
 
Federer, 29, will be making his ninth consecutive appearance in the year-end championships. He is a four-time winner, in 2003-04 in Houston, and 2006-07 in Shanghai. He owns a career mark of 29-7 in the event. In 2009, he reached the semi-finals in London.
 
"I am very happy as it is the ninth consecutive year I have qualified for the year-end event," Federer said. "I have played in a lot of different venues during my career and I can say they staged a fantastic event at The 02 last year. I look forward to returning there in November and finishing the season strong."
 
This season Federer captured his 16th Grand Slam title at the Australian Open (d. Murray) and in his last tournament prior to the US Open, he earned his 17th ATP World Tour Masters 1000 crown in Cincinnati (d. Fish). His 63 career titles is tied for fifth place (w/Bjorn Borg) on the Open Era titles list. Federer also was runner-up at the ATP World Tour Masters 1000 tournaments in Madrid (l. to Nadal) and Toronto (l. to Murray) along with Halle (l. to Hewitt). He is on course to finish in the Top 2 for a record eighth consecutive year.
 
He is one week shy of tying Pete Sampras for the most weeks (286) at No. 1 in the history of the South African Airways ATP Rankings (since 1973).
 
The tournament is the world’s biggest indoor tennis event, where each of the top eight players are drawn to play a minimum of three round-robin matches to determine which four players advance to the knockout semi-finals. Tickets are available online through www.BarclaysATPWorldTourFinals.com.