Federer makes more history by setting up 100th final

By Bill Scott Nov 26, 2011, 17:37 GMT

London - Roger Federer will crack his century mark on career finals on Sunday after escaping a dangerous patch against Spaniard David Ferrer and producing a 7-5, 6-3 victory at the ATP World Tour Finals on Saturday.

The 16-time Grand Slam winner will be competing in his seventh final at a year-end event and bidding for a sixth trophy.

'It's obviously a special occasion for me tomorrow playing my hundredth final, possibly winning my 70th title, winning my sixth at the World Tour Finals,' said Federer.

'There's a lot on the line, and in a way there's not. All I can do is try to play a good match against a dangerous player,' said the Swiss, who will face a winner from Czech Tomas Berdych and Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.

'In Tsonga, we have someone who is very confident right now, has played well on the indoors. If he makes it to the finals, even right now in the semis he's going to be extremely dangerous. He's going to believe in his chance.

'Same thing for Berdych. They're both great shot makers. I played Berdych as well in Paris.'

Federer's win in just under 90 minutes over Ferrer - a loser now in a dozen matches with the Swiss - will also carry Federer past Andy Murray and back to third in the rankings.

Federer was within two points of losing the first set at 4-5 but won a nine-minute game and lifted his level in the second set to earn victory running away.

The Swiss advanced with six aces and 24 winners, committing 29 unforced errors. Ferrer, heading off to Spain for next week's Davis Cup final against Argentina, managed just eight winners.

'It was a crucial 5-4 game for me to hold and then break the next game, and then break again early on in the second set. It was a as a crucial 15, 20 minutes for me. I'm happy I was able to decide the match right there.

'I really had to dig deep to find a way to beat David today. It's not so easy as it might look and seem. It's a lot of hard work.

'Today it was very close. Lately, our matches have all been very tough, very physical. He's really cemented himself into the top 5.'

Federer, now 63-12 on the season with a 16-match win streak to hand after claiming trophies in his last two events in Basle and Paris, dished up love games on his last two times at serve and broke Ferrer in the final game on a second match point with a forehand winner to the corner.

'I'm happy to have played so well against today,' said the winner,

'I'm just amazed that I can reach 100 finals, that's not something you can plan for.

'I'm amazed I'm still standing and walking around normally after so many years. But I'm fit and really motivated. This really means a lot to me.'

Federer ended group play undefeated for the seventh time at a year-end event and will aim for his fourth title of the season on Sunday.

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