At ATP Finals, Anderson destroys Nishikori, 6-0, 6-1, in 64 minutes

MATCH POINT: Kevin Anderson completes rout of Kei Nishikori:

Kevin Anderson put on an absolute masterclass against Kei Nishikori at the Nitto ATP Finals on Tuesday, improving to 2-0 in their round-robin group with a 6-0, 6-1 victory in just 64 minutes.

Nishikori had won five of their eight previous meetings, including at the Masters 1000 event in Paris just a few weeks ago, but Anderson came out swinging in this one and dialed in. He reeled off the first 11 games of the match before Nishikori mercifully held serve to avoid the double bagel. The South African served it out in the next game and never faced a break point in the match.

“It’s one of the best matches I’ve ever played,” Anderson said in his on-court interview. “I knew I had to come out and play a great match against Kei. He’s a world class player. I got off to a really good start in the match and then I was able to keep up the pressure against him the rest of the match.

“You wait a whole year to play a match like this, and to do it here was fantastic.”

Incredibly, Anderson finished with just a +3 differential of winners to unforced errors—15-12—while Nishikori had a -14 differential, 10-24. His forehand was particularly error-prone, with three winners to 15 unforced errors from that shot.

The result equalled the worst defeat of Nishikori’s career in a completed match. In 2008, Nishikori lost to Robin Soderling in the semifinals of Stockholm by a similarly ignominious score, 6-1, 6-0.

On the other hand, it was Anderson’s most lopsided career win at tour-level, and the seventh time in ATP Finals history that the winner of a match lost one or fewer games en route to victory:

—2005 Semifinals: Roger Federer d. Gaston Gaudio, 6-0 6-0

—1972 Round Robin: Stan Smith d. Jan Kodes, 6-1 6-0

—1978 Round Robin: Eddie Dibbs d. Raul Ramirez, 6-0 6-1

—1985 Round Robin: Ivan Lendl d. Tomas Smid, 6-1 6-0

—1994 Round Robin: Michael Chang d. Alberto Berasategui, 6-1 6-0

—2014 Round Robin: Roger Federer d. Andy Murray, 6-0 6-1
—2018 Round Robin: Kevin Anderson d. Kei Nishikori, 6-0 6-1

It was also Anderson’s 47th match win of the year, the most he’s ever had in a single season.

And there could be even more good news for Anderson later today: the South African will qualify for the semifinals if Dominic Thiem wins at least one set against Federer.

This Week on Tennis Channel:

ATP Finals (Sun - Sun 11.11 - 11.18) - Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer and the world's best collide in the season Finale. Live coverage begins on Tennis Channel Sunday at 7:00am EST.