Janko Tipsarevic makes his ATP World Tour Finals debut on Wednesday afternoon against Czech Tomas Berdych.
Tipsarevic gets his chance to have a taste of the competition in rather unfortunate circumstances. The Serb has enjoyed the best season of his career and finished ninth in the Race so he came to London as 1st alternate and he's stepped in to replace Andy Murray after the world number three withdrew on Tuesday afternoon with a groin injury.
Tipsarevic can qualify for the semi-finals if he beats both Berdych and Novak Djokovic but that's a tough ask for him going by the Czech's form on Monday. Berdych produced some sublime tennis at times against Djokovic and should have beaten the world number one, missing match point before going down 3-6, 6-3, 7-6.
He'll have his eye on reaching the knockout stages for the first time but this is a tricky must-win match for him as Tipsarevic has caused him plenty of problems in the past. The Serb enjoys the challenge of facing the best in the world and leads 4-3 on the head-to-head.
He beat Berdych in the Davis Cup last year and won emphatically 6-4, 6-4 when they met in Montreal in the summer. He was also on the way to a two lead when Berdych retired during their third round clash at the US Open. However the world number seven will be feeling a little more confident after earning his first ever main tour victory over Tipsarevic at the Paris Masters recently, beating him 7-5, 6-4 in the third round to end his chances of qualifying automatically.
Prediction: Berdych in two.
