Federer set for 12th consecutive appearance at ATP World Tour Finals

Roger Federer booked his 12th consecutive appearance at the ATP World Tour Finals after defeating South African Kevin Anderson 6-4, 6-4 in the second round of the BNP Paribas Masters on Wednesday.

The 32-year-old Swiss native, seeded fifth in Paris, broke three times and served seven aces in the battle that lasted one hour and 22 minutes. Federer goes on to play Germany's Philipp Kohlschreiber in the Round of 16.

"It feels great, I'm so happy," said Federer. "It's been a tough year so this is a little bit of a highlight. It was one of the goals I set myself at the start of the year and I've been able to achieve it. I'm looking forward to a good performance in Paris to gear myself up to hopefully play great tennis in London."

Federer will look to win the ATP World Tour Finals for a record seventh time after securing his place in the eight-man field at the season finale, to be held at The O2 in London from 4-11 November.

Federer is the most successful player to compete at the ATP World Tour Finals, compiling a 42-9 record and winning the title in 2003-04, 2006-07 and 2010-11. He finished runner-up to Novak Djokovic in last year’s final. The Basel native has qualified for the 12th consecutive year, tying Ivan Lendl for the most successive appearances at the season finale. Andre Agassi holds the record for most non-consecutive appearances (14).

Federer joins Rafael Nadal, Djokovic, David Ferrer, Juan Martin del Potro and Tomas Berdych in the elite eight-man field. Home favourite Andy Murray also qualified, but was forced to withdraw from the event after undergoing back surgery.

"It's the absolute pinnacle of our sport," Federer recently said of the tournament. "You want to be able to showcase your talents against the best, with the biggest rivalries, in one of the coolest arenas in the world in front of amazing fans. For me it’s always been an honour to play there and I look forward to returning this year."

Federer opened his 2013 campaign with a semi-final showing at the Australian Open and in doing so became the first man to record 250 Grand Slam match wins. At Roland Garros he became just the fourth player in ATP World Tour history to record 900 match wins en route to reaching his 36th successive Grand Slam quarter-final.

Having finished runner-up to Nadal in the Internazional BNL d’Italia final in Rome in May, Federer won his first title of the season in June at the Gerry Weber Open in Halle, defeating Mikhail Youzhny. Federer also finished runner-up to del Potro in the Swiss Indoors Basel final on Sunday.

Tournament Director, Andre Silva, said, "As a six-time champion Roger stands alone as the most decorated player in the history of the ATP World Tour Finals. He is enormously popular here in London, where he has also won seven Wimbledon titles, and we’re delighted to welcome him back to The O2."

ATP Race To London comes to a thrilling climax at this week’s BNP Paribas Masters in Paris-Bercy. Two singles and three doubles team berths remain up for grabs. Stanislas Wawrinka and Richard Gasquet currently hold the last two spots, but Milos Raonic is still in contention.

The ATP World Tour Finals has welcomed more than one million fans to The O2 arena over the past four years, establishing itself as the biggest indoor tennis tournament in the world since moving to London in 2009.

Date: 30th October 2013, Source: ATP