Nitto ATP Finals 2018: Previewing The Two Groups 

GROUP Lleyton Hewitt will feature the following four:

#2 Roger Federer

#4 Kevin Anderson

#6 Dominic Thiem

#7 Kei Nishikori

Roger Federer eyes a record seventh title at the O2 in London.

Roger Federer (seed 2, ranking No 3)

The 37-year-old Roger Federer who has an excellent record at the ATP finals winning the event six times will go for a record seventh title in London which will also be his 100th career title if he wins. The Swiss Great is 46-8 this season with four titles at his resume. Of course, the magical year of 2017 saw him amass seven titles and script a golden resurgent season but this year things were a bit different. Albeit, the maestro managed to keep winning.

Federer began the year by successfully defending his Australian Open title. He also emerged triumphant in Rotterdam. The Swiss legend was on a 17-match winning streak until the final of the Indian Wells where his streak was broken by the Argentine Juan Martín del Potro. The World No 3 began his grass court campaign with a bang by winning in Stuttgart and a runner-up finish in Halle. Federer also reached the final in Cincinnati and made the semi-finals in Shanghai and Paris.

Drawn alongside Federer in this group are Dominic Thiem, debutante Kevin Anderson, and Kei Nishikori.

Federer has a dominant 7-2 head to head against Kei Nishikori and in all probability will win that match against the Japanese. He is 4-1 against Anderson and we all know that his only loss against the South African came at Wimbledon when Anderson mounted one of the most memorable comebacks from two sets down to eliminate the Swiss Great in the quarter-final at Wimbledon.

Meanwhile against Dominic Thiem, Federer is 1-2 with the Austrian winning both their previous matches. The Swiss has only one win to his credit against Thiem back in the semi final at Brisbane in 2016. But looking at Federer’s form from what he was in 2016, it goes without saying that the Swiss has the upper hand in handling almost anyone who could claim to surpass him this time.