LONDON — Belgium's David Goffin pulled off a huge shock to beat six-times champion Roger Federer 2-6, 6-3, 6-4 in the semifinals of the ATP Finals on Saturday. Few gave the willowy world No. 8 a prayer against the Swiss favorite, especially having lost all six previous meetings, but he staged a remarkable comeback after being outclassed in the first set.
Federer, the world No. 2, snaffled the opener in 33 one-sided minutes as he feasted on Goffin's steady medium-pace game.
But Goffin broke serve with a forehand winner in the second game of the second set and consolidated his advantage to take the match into a decider.
Growing in confidence the 26-year-old Goffin broke Federer's serve again at 1-1 in the third set as the Swiss, suddenly anxious and struggling for timing, struck a backhand out.
There still seemed plenty of time for 19-times grand slam champion Federer to re-assert his authority but Goffin stayed cool and his moment of truth arrived at 5-4 when he stepped up to serve for the biggest win of his career.
Consecutive aces gave him a 30-0 lead before he buried a nervy forehand in the net. Federer then went wide with a forehand to give Goffin two match points and a swinging first serve proved too good.
First-time qualifier Goffin, nor the capacity O2 Arena crowd, could believe it as the Belgian ensured there will be a new name on the trophy this year. Fellow debutants Grigor Dimitrov and Jack Sock contest the second semifinal later on Saturday.
Meanwhile, Federer expects great things from the likes of Novak Djokovic, Stan Wawrinka and Andy Murray when they return from long injury layoffs at the start of next season.
Swiss maestro Federer took the second half of 2016 off to fully recover from a knee and back injuries and returned with a vengeance to win the Australian Open and Wimbledon — taking his grand slam total to 19. Rafael Nadal also made an astonishing comeback from an injury-plagued 2016 to win the French and US Open titles.
Federer's staggering year ended in subdued fashion on Saturday when the 36-year-old's hopes of a seventh ATP Finals title were ended by Goffin.
Yet he is already looking forward with relish to when multiple major winners Djokovic, fellow Swiss Wawrinka and Britain's Murray are expected to be back in action.
"You've always got to expect a slow process. Then if it goes fast, that's great," Federer told reporters after losing to Goffin for only his fifth defeat of a year in which he won seven titles.
"You take time off, you come back, you're good again. That's not how it goes. Coming back is always a challenge for the body. It's a challenge for the team because you've got to be extremely patient yet positive. Not so easy, you know, in some instances.
"But I expect from the guys who have been extremely high up in the rankings, who have won slams, like Stan, Andy and Novak, of course I expect greatness from them.
"When they return at some stage, not maybe from the very beginning. But I wouldn't be surprised if it worked out for them as well like it worked out for me and Rafa."
Twelve-times grand slam champion Djokovic (elbow) and three-times major winners Murray (hip) and Wawrinka (knee) have not played competitively since July. Kei Nishikori and Milos Raonic were also missing from the ATP Finals this year, giving the tournament a new look with half the eight-man field being first-time qualifiers.
Federer believes with the returning heavyweights, the likes of Goffin and Grigor Dimitrov and a new wave led by Alexander Zverev pushing hard, 2018 promises to be a vintage one.
"I hope also Kei, Tomas (Berdych) and Milos all find their way back on Tour and are back in Australia because that would make it quite epic," Federer said.
"Then you mix them together with the new guys from the World Tour Finals here who have just come off a great year, obviously are confident, want to stay in the top 10.
"They are sort of weaving their way in. You have the young guys coming through. I think it could be a very cool start to the year, which I'm really looking forward to." — Reuters
