Federer schools Djokovic to book spot in London semis

Roger Federer reached the knockout stage of the ATP World Tour Finals with a 75, 62 victory here Tuesday night over Serbian world No. 1 Novak Djokovic, whose 38match indoor winning streak dating back to 2012 came to an end.

The thirdranked Federer, a sixtime champion of this event, has been Djokovic’s toughest opponent this season, having now defeated him three times and lost tight matches in the Wimbledon and U.S. Open finals.

Unlike in those championshipround contests, Federer gave himself a big psychological lift by winning the first set of Tuesday’s match at the O2 arena, thus avoiding having to play catchup against a younger opponent.

The Swiss 17time Grand Slam champion also grabbed an early service break in the second, although Djokovic seemed to effect a momentum shift when he broke back in the third game and then held serve to even the second set at 22.

Instead, Federer benefited from numerous unforced errors by his opponent to win the final four games of the match and get a confidenceboosting win heading into the weekend.

With the victory, Federer edged ahead of the Serbian 2221 in their career headtohead.

Despite the loss, Djokovic is still alive in this eightman, yearend tournament and can guarantee himself a spot in the semifinals with a straightset victory Thursday over Czech Tomas Berdych, who lost earlier in the day to Japan’s Kei Nishikori 75, 36, 63 in the other Stan Smith Group contest.

Before Tuesday, Djokovic had not dropped an indoor match since losing at the 2012 Paris Masters to American Sam Querrey.

He also lost for the first time since a defeat at the hands of Federer in the final of the Cincinnati Masters in August.

In Wednesday action in the Ilie Nastase Group, Spaniard Rafael Nadal will square off against British world No. 2 Andy Murray in the day session before Spaniard David Ferrer takes on Switzerland’s Stanislas Wawrinka at night.