NOVAK Djokovic has sent an early warning to the rest of the ATP Finals contenders, completely dismantling Italian Matteo Berrettini in a one-sided contest lasting just 63 minutes. The Serbian world number two only hit 10 winners to Berrettini’s 12, but was much tighter with his play, making eight unforced errors while the Italian produced 33 of his own at the same time. Breaking him five times, Djokovic looked at his devastating best and set up a tantalising final two Borg group matches with Dominic Thiem and Roger Federer.

Speaking of Thiem and Federer, it was the world number five who upset the world number three in straight sets, downing the Swiss Master 7-5 7-5 to overcome one of the two tennis titans in the group. The Austrian prodigy has always threatened to be a player who could take over from the Elite Three in time, and he has begun to start that process over the past couple of months. Broken only once during the match and saving three break points himself, Thiem was able to break Federer three times in the tight straight sets victory. The win was set up in the penultimate game when Thiem broke Federer’s serve to love then saved two of those break points in the final game to serve out the match.

Given Thiem and Federer are both expected to defeat Berrettini, topping the group is likely to be decided between Djokovic and Thiem in the next round of matches.

Day 1 Results – Borg Group:

[5] Dominic Thiem defeated [3] Roger Federer 7-5 7-5
[2] Novak Djokovic defeated [8] Matteo Berrettini 6-2 6-1