Federer Beats Fish, Finishes Group B With Perfect Record

© Getty ImagesRoger Federer has a 14-match winning streak on indoors courts this year.

Third seed Roger Federer completed Group B play with a perfect 3-0 record on Thursday after beating eighth seed Mardy Fish 6-1, 3-6, 6-3 at the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals.

Federer hit 28 winners and won 10 of his 12 net points to improve to 14-0 indoors this year. Fish committed 32 unforced errors in the pair's eighth meeting (Federer 7-1), which lasted one hour and 49 minutes.

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"The first set wasn't as one sided as the score suggested, and the second set he played great," said Federer. "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. I definitely struggled a little bit more today, but I thought that was more due to the circumstances, like you mentioned, and Mardy playing well for most of the match."

Federer could overtake Andy Murray to become year-end No. 3 in the South African Airways 2011 ATP Rankings, if he reached the final at The O2. Federer has a 5-1 record in year-end championship finals, finishing runner-up to David Nalbandian in the 2005 title-match.

Defending champion and five-time titlist Federer, who had already qualified for the semi-finals by virtue of beating his great rival Rafael Nadal on Tuesday, broke Fish's serve in a 14-point second game on his fourth break point opportunity when Fish hit a backhand long. Though Federer was immediately broken back, to 30, Federer raised his game with two more service breaks in the fourth and sixth games. At 5-1, he battled back from 0/40, winning six of seven points to clinch the 32-minute opener.

In the second set, Fish broke Federer to 30 for a 3-1 lead and could have clinched the set 6-2, but failed to convert two break chances in a 12-point game. Fish coolly held to 30, to level the score, when Federer hit a backhand into the net - one of 11 errors in the set. Fish, attacking at every opportunity, struck 16 winners.

A forehand pass from Federer, saw Fish lose his serve to 30, in the second game - a break the Swiss confirmed with a hold to love, ending with two straight aces. Fish saved one break point at 0-3, but Federer's proved too strong as he improved to 62-12 on the season.

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Federer is now 8-9 this year against Top 10 opponents and unbeaten indoors, following back-to-back ATP World Tour titles at the Swiss Indoors Basel (d. Nishikori) and BNP Paribas Masters in Paris (d. Tsonga).

The Swiss superstar is now two wins shy of equalling Ivan Lendl's year-end championship 39-10 record. Federer is 37-7 with five titles, won in 2003 (d. Agassi), 2004 (d. Hewitt), 2006 (d. Blake), 2007 (d. Ferrer) and 2010 (d. Nadal).

"I'm happy I was able to win today just because of momentum for the semis in a couple of days. I'm surprised how well it's gone always at the [Barclays ATP] World Tour Finals-level for me because these are maybe almost the toughest and most dangerous matches to play during the year because it's best of three [sets], against fellow Top 10 players indoors, where a few shots usually do decide the outcome of the match."

Fish completes the best season of his career with a 43-25 match record, including one title at the Atlanta Tennis Championships (d. Isner) and two runner-up finished at the Farmers Classic in Los Angeles (l. to Gulbis) and the Rogers Cup in Montreal (l. to Djokovic). The American celebrates his 30th birthday on 9 December.

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"I feel like I competed well, [but] I don't think I necessarily played particularly well," said Fish. "It's a pretty tough group. I lost to a guy today who was playing very well. But it was a close match. Bottom line is I'm going to go away 0 3, which is hard. But I had a great experience just being a part of this. It gives you a lot of ammunition to want to come back next year."

"I enjoyed the gala, I enjoyed being a part of the picture that the eight guys are in. I enjoyed, like you said, sort of the treatment that you get. I enjoyed still playing at this time of the year when no one else is. We get our own locker rooms back there, our names on our towels. For me, that doesn't happen every year. A lot of guys have made this a lot of times, but I haven't, and I can appreciate it a lot more. I know there's a chance I won't ever come back to this event, so I wanted to take it all in." 

Former Arsenal and Barcelona striker Thierry Henry, the 1998 World Cup-winning footballer, watched the match. Federer joined Henry on Wednesday night to watch Arsenal beat Borussia Dortmund 2-1 in a Champions League match.