LONDON — Roger Federer chalked up yet another record when victory over Janko Tipsarevic at the ATP World Tour Finals Tuesday put him top of the list for match wins at the traditional season-ender. The 17-time Grand Slam champion cruised to a 6-3, 6-1 victory over the Serbian world No. 9, taking his haul of victims in the event to 40, one more than Ivan Lendl. Federer, who has won the title a record six times including the last two editions at London's O2 Arena, seized the initiative when he broke Tipsarevic's first service game and never looked like loosening his grip in a one-sided contest. Tipsarevic, who pulled out of his match at the Paris Masters last week because of illness, qualified for the eight-man tournament as a result of Rafa Nadal's continuing injury woes. He never looked like recording a first career victory over the Swiss, however, and despite offering dogged resistance there was an air of predictability about the contest. Federer pounced again to break for a 2-1 lead in the second set and galloped away to victory in little more than an hour. Group B action was to continue later Tuesday when Spain's David Ferrer was to play Argentina's Juan Martin del Potro. In Group A, world number one Novak Djokovic and U.S. Open champion Andy Murray won their opening matches Monday. The top two players from each group go through to Sunday's semifinals. Djokovic celebrated his return to the top of the world rankings with a 7-6, (7-4), 6-3 victory over Jo-Wilfried Tsonga. Although Djokovic has only one Grand Slam title to his name this year, at the Australian Open back in January, it has still been another fine year for the Serb, who replaced Roger Federer as world No. 1 Monday after a brief spell playing second fiddle to the Swiss star. Only David Ferrer has been able to equal Djokovic's impressive total of 71 match wins during the course of 2012 and, for the second year in a row, the Serb will finish the season on top of the rankings thanks to the remarkable consistency which has seen him reach the semifinals or better in 14 of his 16 tournaments. Indian duo lose Mahesh Bhupathi and Rohan Bopanna suffered a disappointing start to their ATP Tour Finals doubles campaign as the Indian duo were beaten 6-4, 6-7 (1-7) 12-10 by Jonathan Marray and Frederik Nielsen Tuesday. Bhupathi and Bopanna arrived at London's O2 Arena in a rich vein of form after winning the Paris Masters double crown last week, but they were unable to maintain that good run against the reigning Wimbledon doubles champions. Berdych, Stepanek to play for Czechs at Davis Cup The Czech Republic will rely on the traditional duo of Tomas Berdych and Radek Stepanek in this month's Davis Cup final. They also led the Czechs when they were swept in the 2009 final by Spain in Barcelona. Berdych and Stepanek are also likely to team up for the doubles. Lukas Rosol, who upset Rafael Nadal in the second round of Wimbledon, and Ivo Minar are also in the Czech squad for the Nov. 16-18 tie on indoor hard-court at Prague's O2 Arena. Spain will be chasing its fourth Davis Cup title in five years. The Czechs won their only Davis Cup as Czechoslovakia in 1980. They have lost their last three ties against Spain. — Agencies
