ATP Finals: Federer beats Thiem to keep title hopes alive

Federer, who has won this event six times, looked uncharacterisically poor in his opening match loss to Kei Nishikori, but - after skipping practice on Monday - outclassed Dominic Thiem from the off on Tuesday night to win 6-2, 6-3. 

"It feels good, I’m very happy that I showed a reaction," Federer told Sky after the win. "I’m not used to losing and then coming back to play, it was a good test."

The Austrian is a notoriously slow starter and lived down to his reputation by losing his second service game, netting a series of straightforward strokes. The 25-year-old rarely troubled the Swiss master as Federer helped himself to a second break while easing through his service games almost completely untroubled.

Thiem looked nervous against the 20-time Grand Slam winner and handed his opponent a break in the first game of the second set. 

Federer sensed blood, and the 37-year-old was relentless. Thiem visibly weakened as the set went on and, in a fitting reflection of his performance, looped an simple volley out of play to hand Federer the win.

Thiem has only won two of his eight matches at this tournament while a win for Federer against Kevin Anderson in the last round robin match on Thursday could send Federer through and in search of a seventh ATP Finals title, though the result of the Nishikori vs. Thiem match will play a part.

The South African beat Federer in the quarterfinal of Wimbledon this year, eventually winning the fifth set 13-11 before losing in the final.

"It is never easy to play against him, especially indoors," said Federer of Anderson. "I am happy I am getting a chance to play him again and have a re-match."

Nishikori brought down to earth by Anderson

Earlier in the day, Japan's Nishikori, who beat Federer in the tournament opener, was hammered by Anderson. The South African won the first 11 games and needed only 64 minutes to win 6-0, 6-1.

It was a landmark moment for Anderson, who has set a new career-high of 47 victories in a calender year. The world number six said he produced one of his best ever displays.

"I felt I did a fantastic job throughout really. Even though I had a lead, I felt a sense of urgency throughout which I thought was really important because I wanted to get that win," Anderson said. 

But he must have expected a much tougher match than he got. From the moment Anderson broke his opponent in the second game, it was one way traffic, with the volume of Anderson's fearsome groundstrokes matched only by Nishikori's unforced errors.

The Japanese player narrowly avoided a whitewash, when he finally won a game in the 12th, but has his work cut out if he's to reach the semifinals.