rogerfederer.com - Roger soars into semis

Roger soars into semis

Roger continued to lord it with a straight-sets victory over David Ferrer. The defending champion is the first man to confirm his passage into the knockout rounds, though he does still need to beat Juan Martin del Potro tomorrow to make sure that he finishes top of his group. While Group A has been tightly contested, Group B resembles the nearby landscape of South-East London, with Roger looming over his would-be rivals like the Shard. He proved that again on Thursday at the Barclays ATP tournament, beating David Ferrer 6-4, 7-6 and advancing to the semi-finals with a group match to spare despite struggling with his serve and scrambling to stay in the long rallies.

"I've been very successful over the years. Probably won most titles indoors, maybe more than all the other guys combined," said our champ, who called it a natural surface for him. "But that doesn't make me the best this week." Roger made only 53 percent of his first serves against Ferrer. And in his first two service games alone, he was forced to save six break points. But he did save them, and three others, while getting broken only once."I definitely needed a good second serve, especially in the first set," Roger said. "I didn't have that many serves in play the way I wanted to. Either the rhythm was off a bit or I wasn't pushing enough with the legs or whatever it might have been. Ferrer showed why he's so tough to beat. He makes you hit the extra shot. He makes it physical". You know that mentally he's not going to go anywhere." With the victory, Roger improved his record over Ferrer to 14-0. In 10 years of facing each other, Ferrer has won only three sets against the 17-time Grand Slam champion.Roger is looking for his seventh title at the season-ending event for the top eight players in the world. He is chasing his 3rd straight title at the O2 Arena.