Roger Federer Sets Up End Of Year Clash With Nadal

Roger Federer has set up the dream end to the 2010 season as his defeat over Novak Djokovic in the semis of the ATP World Tour Finals sees him set up a clash with Rafael Nadal.

Federer was looking for some revenge this evening after Djokovic saw off the former world number one in the semi final of the U.S. Open back in September.

And the world number two was incomplete control for most of the match, despite a little wobble at the beginning of the second set, to enjoy a 6-1 6-4 win.

Rafael Nadal had a more difficult job this afternoon as he needed over three hours to see off Andy Murray in three tough sets,

The third set went to a tie break, the world number two coming through 8-6 to wrap up the match 7-6 (7-5) 3-6 7-6 (8-6).

Despite an up and down season from Federer, which has seen him make just one Grand Slam final, he has played some of his final tennis at the O2 and currently remains undefeated in London.

It was all about Federer in the opening set as he broke Djokovic in his opening service game, the Serb double faulting on break point, to immediately take the upper hand.

He almost went a double break point down in the fourth game but managed to fight his way out of trouble as Federer continued to pile on the pressure.

No matter how hard Djokovic battled Federer continued to come up with all of the answers and after just thirty one minutes the world number two had the opening set for the loss of just one game.

Into the second set and it looked like Djokovic had finally got a handle on the match as he battled back from 40-15 down in Federer’s opening service game to finally get his first break point.

Federer looked slightly dazed by the fight back from the Serb as he found himself 3-0 down, much to the delight of the crowd who wanted to see the match go the distance.

But it wasn’t long before Federer had come through the dip and began to battle back and broke to level the match at 3-3.

And Federer struck the hammer blow in game nine as he broke Djokovic for the second time in the set to leave him serving for the set.

After just seventy nine minutes Federer had a 6-1 6-4 victory under his belt and set up a highly anticipated clash with the world number one.

It is just the second time that the pair has met this season after Nadal beat Federer in the final of the Madrid Masters to lift the title back in the spring.

The pair hasn’t contested a Grand Slam final since the Australian Open in 2010 when the Spaniard took the title after a five set classic.

FemaleFirst Helen Earnshaw