Seb Kay rounds up the final day of the ATP World Tour Finals.
Novak Djokovic v Roger Federer
Novak Djokovic completed arguably the most successful season in the ATP World Tour by reclaiming bragging rights against Roger Federer in Sunday’s final by recording a 6-4 6-3 victory.
The Serb had lost to Federer in the group stages and didn’t look up to Federer’s standards as he was swept aside, but he was back to winning ways when it most mattered. First Rafael Nadal suffered in the semi-finals on Saturday and the next day, Federer was his victim.
Djokovic got the early break in the first set at 1-1 as a Federer forehand clipped the net tape to sit nicely for him to hit a winner and claim the lead straight away. Federer then saw two opportunities to level the encounter slip away and allowed Djokovic to take the first set 6-3.
Winning the final would have seen Federer reclaim his world number two position, but instead the Swiss saw himself denied by some formidable defence play from Djokovic. With the set at 5-4 in Djokovic’s favour, they then endured a breath-taking 34-shot rally which eventually saw the Serbian come out on top to claim his fourth straight win at the end of year Finals.
Horia Tecau & Jean-Julian Rojer v Rohan Boppana & Florin Mergea
Horia Tecau and Jean-Julian Rojer became the first doubles pair since the round-robin format began in 1986 to claim the title without dropping a set as they were 6-4 6-3 victors against Rohan Boppana and Florin Mergea.
Boppana got off to a bad start as he was broken to 30 despite hitting two aces, and that proved to be costly as it was the only break of the set and allowed second seeds Tecau and Rojer to take the opening set 6-4.
Tecau and Rojer looked confident in their play as they broke Boppana again to 15 in the fifth game of the set, and they then capped off their season finale win by breaking the Indian’s serve for a third time to love to win 6-3 and seal the victory.