ATP World Tour Finals 2015 Results: Thursday Tennis Scores and Updated Schedule

Novak Djokovic secured his place in the semi-finals at the 2015 ATP World Tour Finals on Thursday with a straight sets win over Tomas Berdych, while Roger Federer made it three wins out of three to ensure he tops the Group Stan Smith standings beating Kei Nishikori 7-5, 4-6, 6-4.

The defeat ended the Japanese star's hopes of reaching the semi-final before Berdych took to the court in Thursday's evening session. The Czech was left needing a straight sets win over Djokovic in order to progress, but was unable to cause the Djoker any serious problems.

Read on for a full recap of the day's action, but first, here are the results and the upcoming schedule:

Result	Score
Roger Federer bt. Kei Nishikori	7-5, 4-6, 6-4
Novak Djokovic bt. Tomas Berdych	6-3, 7-5

Date	Time (GMT/ET)	Fixture
Friday, Nov. 20	2 p.m./9 a.m.	Rafael Nadal vs. David Ferrer
Friday, Nov. 20	8 p.m./3 p.m.	Andy Murray vs. Stan Wawrinka

Thursday Recap

A strong start saw Djokovic ease to a 2-0 lead in the opening set, but consecutive shots into the net allowed the Czech to break back and level the score at 2-2.

The pair exchanged holds, but with the score at 4-3 Berdych paid the price for failing to challenge a ball called out, when replays showed his forehand was good. The 30-year-old was able to make it to deuce in that game, but handed his opponent a break courtesy of two wild shots into the net.

From there Djokovic made no mistake in seeing out the set and as TennisTV demonstrates, the Serbian was showing some typically impressive moves:

With his hopes of a semi-final place dashed, Berdych looked to be capitulating in the second set as he again allowed the Djoker to race to a 2-0 lead, but once again the world No. 6 was able to break back with a powerful forehand winner.

Perhaps more relaxed with the pressure off, Berdych continued his resurgence with several more robust efforts and some much-improved serving. Tennis analyst Craig O'Shannessy noted the effectiveness of his more aggressive approach:

Some strong serving from both players afforded neither the opportunity to break until Berdych finally faltered with the scores level at 5-5 and the Serbian ruthlessly served out the match.

Earlier, a sloppy start from Nishikori allowed Federer to take an early break in the opening set as a double-fault and a loose backhand quickly granted the Swiss star a 3-1 lead.

The 25-year-old responded well to the setback, though, and broke back immediately as Federer netted twice thanks to some impressive work from the resurgent Nishikori.

Alastair Grant/Associated Press

Nishikori then held comfortably before breaking Federer again to edge into a 4-3 lead, stunning him with a magnificent passing backhand and then a powerful forehand winner.

Despite an unusual rally in which a point was awarded to Nishikori after a high ball from Federer clipped a screen at the O2 Arena before landing in, the maestro was able to break back himself.

From there, the set followed serve until Nishikori was on the verge of forcing a tiebreaker, but the world No. 3 showed remarkable skill to find a winner amid this stunning rally, courtesy of Sky Sports Tennis:

Two more loose shots into the net from Nishikori granted Federer the first set. TennisTV shared the stats:

The 34-year-old raced to a 4-1 lead in the second set as Nishikori mustered just six points in the first five games, and the match looked to be heading to a swift conclusion.

However, the world No. 8 launched a remarkable comeback to win five consecutive games and force a decisive third set, thanks to some exquisite forehand returns and powerful serving—which rattled the usually collected Federer into making some incredible misses.

Tennis writer Ricky Dimon was astounded by one of Federer's glaring misses, while fellow writer Steve Tignor was among many to highlight the thrilling nature of the match:

Federer again took a 4-1 lead in the third set as Nishikori failed to take any of three break points he earned with the score at 1-1.

A sense of deja vu crept in as Nishikori regained a foothold in the contest once more, holding twice while a double-fault and an unforced error from Federer allowed him to pull level on 4-4. 

Dimon was full of praise for the former, who produced several moments of remarkable skill and athleticism as he fought back with resilience:

This time Federer wasn't going to allow Nishikori to complete his comeback, and after holding to love, he narrowly broke his opponent to win the match.

According to the Guardian's Jacob Steinberg, Federer admitted the difficulty he endured in overcoming Nishikori. He said:

"

It was extremely difficult. It was a good match, maybe some more breaks than we’re used to. Kei is one of the best returners. Kei put on a great fight and congratulations to him on a good year and a good match. I was trying to hang on and trying to fend off break points. Kei was staying aggressive and hitting his shots. It was close, but enough at the end. It [the semi-finals] is going to be rough—Rafa, Andy or Stan.

"

Federer is assured of a place in the semi-finals, though as Steinberg notes he can only face Andy Murray or Stan Wawrinka, not Rafael Nadal. 

Sportsnet's Caroline Cameron highlighted Federer as the one to beat after taking three high-profile scalps at the tournament so far:

Tennis writer Gaspar Lanca reveals what Thursday's results mean for the semi-final schedule:

Friday will see Murray go head-to-head with Wawrinka for the right to face Federer in the semi-finals. The Swiss star has looked incredibly strong against some difficult opponents thus far, so he should be the favourite regardless of who he faces.