LONDON—One good thing about Roger Federer’s 7-5, 6-3 defeat of David Ferrer is that it prevents the assembled pundits from trotting out the old 'Nobody beats David Ferrer 12 times in a row' joke. Ferrer came into this match with a mountain to climb—having lost to Federer in all 11 of their meetings—and it fell on him instead, as expected.
Still, this defeat might smart a little more. Both men started off badly, and Ferrer’s poor serving yielded a break point at 2-2—which he saved with the aid of two backhand volleys, a shot he has hit impeccably throughout the tournament. For whatever reason—and it must be hard to keep one’s focus razor-sharp against an opponent who has been so reliably helpless to damage one—Federer was ragged by his standards, spraying and shanking balls from the baseline. Part of that had to do with Ferrer’s initial success in using his forehand to pin Federer back into his backhand corner; part of it just looked like inattention.
Serving to stay into the set at 4-5, Federer found himself mired in an eight-minute game which, while it yielded no break points for Ferrer, looked like the Spaniard’s best chance to seize the early advantage. It did not work out that way—consecutive backhand errors let Federer hold. The ensuing break had an air of inevitability about it as Federer went on the attack, and served out the set 7-5.
It was predictably straightforward from there, with a demoralized Ferrer giving up the break in the first game of the second set. It still was not vintage Federer—he showed a decided tendency to try to be too clever, which allowed Ferrer to win the point of the tournament, chasing down a drop-shot, a lob and finally hitting a running backhand pass to hold for 1-2. Still, he picked up his first serve percentage from 60 to 76 percent, cut down his unforced errors from 19 to 10 and did not lose a point behind his first serve throughout the second set.
For me, the most significant change between the first and second sets that allowed Federer to neutralise Ferrer was a tactical shift on the former’s backhand. From attempting to hit it flat, Federer focused on either hitting it with more topspin, driving Ferrer back off the court and making it harder for him to hit the aggressive inside-in forehand, or slicing to bring the Spaniard in so the Swiss could run him ragged in the forecourt. It worked beautifully, and Federer took his second match point to book a spot in his 100th final.
With the victory, Federer ensures his return to No. 3 in the rankings, and more importantly the chance to compete for his sixth season-ending championship title. Ferrer, meanwhile, must try to forget the advantage he let slip against Berdych, which would have enabled him to avoid Federer and a tame end to a great tournament for him.
—Hannah Wilks