Roger Federer Will Play Jo-Wilfried Tsonga In The Final

Roger Federer will play Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the final of the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals after beating Tomas Berdych 6-3 7-5 at the O2 Arena on Saturday.

Earlier, defending champion Federer had seen off David Ferrer 7-5 6-3 to move into his 100th career final and to within one win of a record sixth title at the tournament.

It will be the third meeting in two weeks between Federer and Tsonga after the Paris Masters final and a group match here, both of which were won by the Swiss.

It was an impressive performance from Tsonga, though, and he will surely fancy his chances of repeating his stunning Wimbledon quarter-final win.

The world number six, who had lost his only previous match against Berdych in Beijing last month, said: "It's incredible. Today I was really tight, perhaps for the first time like this in my career. It's been an amazing week, I will enjoy the final and try to play my best against Roger."

This was an intriguing clash between two of the ATP Tour's biggest hitters, both of whom have reached one grand slam final and been tipped for even better.

Tsonga made the first move with a break in the sixth game and, as is so often the case, it came straight after he had saved two break points.

Tsonga has more variety than the Czech and is slightly less prone to mental lapses, and he confidently wrapped up a set that in truth had failed to catch fire.

The Frenchman sensed an opportunity to take the match by the scruff of the neck in the opening game of the second set but this time Berdych managed to fight off two break points.

The match was being played at Tsonga's tempo, the sixth seed crunching three forehand cross-court winners past his opponent in the space of a couple of games.

Both players were looking to come to the net, and it was the one area apart from his serve where Berdych was having plenty of success, but it did seem like a case of when rather than if Tsonga would break through again, and he did so in the seventh game.

Berdych just could not match the 26-year-old's power, although he rather crumbled with a double fault on break point, but from nowhere he then conjured a first break of his own to level.

Berdych had fought back from an identical situation to beat Ferrer yesterday and book his place in the last four, but he was in trouble again at 5-5 and netted a tame backhand to leave his opponent serving for the match.

And this time there was no way back, Tsonga setting up two match points with a brilliant volley off his toes and clinching victory with his seventh ace.

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