LONDON, Nov. 12 (Xinhua) -- Swiss legend Roger Federer defeated tournament debutant Matteo Berrettini from Italy 7-6(2), 6-3 here on Tuesday, clinching his first win at this year's ATP World Tour Finals.
Federer was stunned by Austrian Dominic Thiem 7-5, 7-5 in his opening match in Group Bjorn Borg last Sunday, but has never lost consecutive round-robin matches at the Finals. Besides, the six-time champion of the season finale has a 16-0 record in the second group match in the competition.
Facing the 23-year-old Italian who lost to him in straight sets at this year's Wimbledon Championships, Federer overcame the big server by dominating the tiebreak 7-2 in the first set, then broke twice in the second set.
"I'm very happy with how I played today. Matteo was always going to be difficult with his big serve," said the 38-year-old Federer. "I was pretty clean in my own service games and I think that helped today. I hope I can keep it up and maybe even play a bit better in the next match."
Berrettini was tamed by Serbian Novak Djokovic in his first match last Sunday, losing to the world number two in 6-2, 6-1.
"I'm playing against the best guys on the planet and maybe the best guys ever," said Berrettini. "So I'm proud of what I'm doing. I'm proud how I'm facing these kind of situations. I think that I played a good match also against Novak even if the score was not that good. But for sure I'm learning. And these kind of losses will help me in the future to get better."
Federer is going to play Djokovic in the last group match for their 49th ecounters. Djokovic beat Federer in this year's Wimbledon final with a five-set thrill and leads the head-to-head 26-22.
"I'm excited playing against him. I'm excited to see how he's going to play tonight, as well. It's definitely going to give me some more information about what to expect," said Federer.
Djokovic will meet Thiem later this evening.
