Fresh from Thiem win, Anderson sets sights on Nishikori

South Africa’s Kevin Anderson demonstrated his increasing big match ability with a clinical unpicking of Austria’s Dominic Thiem in his debut match at the ATP World Finals on Sunday.

And now, on Tuesday afternoon, he has a chance to follow that win up when he takes on Kei Nishikori – with a victory cementing his place at the top of his group.

Anderson, 32, produced a solid 6-3, 7-6(10) win over Thiem on day one of the elite eight-man field, which brings together the top players of the season at Londons 02 Arena.

Anderson, currently ranked sixth in the world after a stellar year that has so far yielded two ATP titles and a magical run to the Wimbledon final, completed his 46th win of the season to match his previous best campaign in 2015.

The 2.03m-tall South Africans serve remains a major weapon, but his overall ability to pressure opponents from all areas of the court has taken his game to a higher level in 2018.

On Sunday, Thiem could not find a foothold in the game as Anderson's serve looked impregnable.

The Austrian, knowing he had to hold his own serve, considering break points on Anderson's Howitzer would be as rare as smiling people on the London Underground, faltered early on. Anderson held to love in two games on either side of breaking Thiem, winning 12 of 14 points in that sequence, to go 4-1 up in the first set.

Anderson didn't give Thiem a look in all night, with the Austrian unable to earn a single break point.

Thiem had to defend five break points in his opening two service games. The pressure was too much, though, as Anderson made the breakthrough and then held comfortably.

"I think it was important, going out there and getting off to a good start," said Anderson. 

"I definitely felt a little bit nervous. But I was able to settle very quickly and find a really good rhythm, taking care of my service games nicely [and I] created quite a few opportunities on his serve.

"He wasn't serving at a very high first-serve percentage. I felt I was getting into quite a few points. The second set could have been anybody's set. He started serving well. I was taking care of my service games. When it's 12-10 in the tie-break, it really could have gone either way."

Anderson fired 13 aces and landed a modest 61% of his first serves. But he won 40 of the 44 points played on his first serve. Anderson had to save two set points in the tie-break after both players held their serves throughout the set without much fuss.

"I didn't have a good start," said Thiem. 

"I had no chance, basically, in the first set to break him. I was in trouble almost every service game. So the first set was not really good.

"The second [set] was a very good set of tennis, I would say. It was just one little ball here and there."

It was Anderson's first win over Thiem this year but his seventh in nine outings against the 24-year-old. Thiem beat Anderson at the US Open and also at an ATP 1000 event in Madrid.

In Sunday's other match, Japan's in-form Nishikori caused an early upset by beating six-time ATP Finals winner Roger Federer 7-6, 6-3. Anderson faces Nishikori next, while Federer and Thiem clash in what is effectively a knockout match, with the loser almost certain to qualify for the semi-finals.

Federer, who has now competed at the year-end championships 16 times, lifted the trophy in 2003-04, 2006-07, 2010-11. He drops to a 46-9 match record on the season.

"I felt we both struggled throughout the first set," said Federer.

"I had my chances, maybe, a bit more than he did. Then I started to feel better in the second set. I think we both did. The level went up. Unfortunately, I couldn't keep the lead that I got early. That was important, I think, at the end. That was the key of the match, that sort of – I guess – [a] 10-minute swing at the end of the first throughout maybe 1-1 in the second."