ATP World Tour Finals Days 1 and 2 - Wawrikna And Djokovic Set The Standard

Only the top eight players in the world are accepted in the season ending ATP world tour finals, however yesterday’s action felt more like the opening week of a Grand Slam rather than a showdown between the very best.

Djokovic made light work of Cilic in the second match of the day

It took less than an hour for both Stan Wawrinka and Novak Djokovic to claim their opening victories in a ruthless fashion, the two opening matches from Group B didn’t exactly support the argument that strength in depth in the men’s game is stronger than ever, not that the two victors will care their tennis alone should be enough of an attraction. 

Wawrinka, this year’s Australian Open champion, spent less than an hour on court as he brushed aside Czech Tomas Berdych 6-1 6-1. That was followed by an equally impressive performance from the world number one Djokovic who dismissed US Open champion Marin Cilic by the same score line.

Some will no doubt point to the slow indoor courts which are supposed to favour the better movers and hinder the big servers. Of course that will be no consolation to either Berdych or Cilic; both were well and truly outplayed and can have few excuses.

Nevertheless, the beauty of this particular tennis event is the unique format which splits the eight top players into two groups of four, before the top two from each progress.

That means despite their early defeats Berdych and Cilic can still qualify, as can home favourite Andy Murray who lost his opening Group A match in straight sets falling 6-4 6-4 to Kei Nishikori in Sunday’s opener. 

Even so the British number one must surely have to beat Canada’s Milos Raonic in tonight’s second match to stand any sort of realistic chance. Like Murray, Raonic failed to take a set in his opening match, losing 6-1 7-6(0) to a potent looking Roger Federer.

Murray can take some positives from the 6ft5 Canadian’s nervy start against Federer, which clearly cost him on his first appearance at this event. However in previous meetings its Raonic who leads by three matches to one and will no doubt be a dangerous opponent.

In today’s other match Federer will go up against Nishikori, where the winner will take a huge step towards booking their place in one of Sunday’s semi-finals, with Federer looking for an unprecedented 7th title at the end of season championships.