LONDON — Roger Federer produced another masterly display to beat Japan's Kei Nishikori 6-3, 6-2 and move a step closer to the semifinals at the ATP World Tour Finals Tuesday. The six-time former champion was at his imperious best to subdue the 24-year-old US Open runner-up and will reach the last four should Canada's Milos Raonic defeat Andy Murray in the day's other Group B match. Although this year's tournament is still to witness a three-set match, the entertainment served up by world No. 2 Federer and Asian trailblazer Nishikori kept the capacity O2 crowd enthralled for one hour and nine minutes. Federer clearly enjoyed it too. The 33-year-old Federer, who can still knock Novak Djokovic off the top of the rankings before the end of the year, fought off two break points in the third game, one with an ace, and broke himself a game later with a flowing forehand pass. That was enough for the Swiss maestro to secure the opener and the quality of his play pressured Nishikori into several errors on the backhand side at the same stage of the second set as he forged further into the distance. There were flashes of inspiration by Nishikori, a graceful top-spin lob here, a sweetly-struck backhand pass there, but he lacked the authority he showed in convincingly beating home favorite Murray Sunday. Federer, who began his record 13th appearance at the ATP Tour Finals by subduing Raonic in straight sets, has only once failed to survive the group stage and looks poised to take center stage again at the weekend. His final match will be against Murray. On Monday, two-time defending champion Novak Djokovic extended his indoor winning streak with an impressive 6-1, 6-1 win over Marin Cilic. Djokovic moved two wins away from sealing the year-end No. 1 spot, and improved his record against the US Open champion to 11-0 with a dominant display that lasted only 56 minutes. The O2 Arena crowd was treated to several stunning rallies in the opening stages, with Djokovic coming out on top on every important point. The top-ranked Serb has now won his last 28 matches indoors, a streak going back more than two years. Djokovic read Cilic's serve well and broke at love for a 4-1 lead after hitting two sumptuous forehand passing shots, then clinched the set after Cilic buried a backhand in the net. After dropping his serve immediately at the start of the second set, Cilic broke back to stay in the match but his resurgence was short-lived as Djokovic won the next four games. Clement unveils France team France captain Arnaud Clement Tuesday named a team with no surprises to contest the Davis Cup final against Switzerland in Lille from Nov. 21-23. Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Gael Monfils, Richard Gasquet, Julien Benneteau and Gilles Simon had been recalled after helping France beat the Czech Republic 4-1 in the semifinals in September. Swiss captain Severin Luethi named his team last week for the tie. Roger Federer and Stan Wawrinka will be joined in northern France by Marco Chiudinelli and Michael Lammer. The draw for the France-Swiss tie will take place on Nov. 20. Until then both teams have the option of changing two of their five players. — Agencies
