Janko Tipsarevic was thrilled to be back in London.  Sure, he needed Rafa to not appear at London, which Rafa guaranteed would not happen a few weeks ago.  But this time, he is eligible to play all his matches.

Alas, his first match was against Roger Federer, who is the top seed in Group B.  Roger Federer has an amazing record against everyone in Group B.  He could easily have Murray, Berdych, and Tsonga in his section, and have to work a lot harder in his group.  Instead, all those players are in Group A with Djokovic.

Group A featured two moderately tough matches.  Murray was pushed to three sets in his win yesterday, and had to scrape by saving break points early in the second, and overcome ten break points that he didn’t convert against Berdych before finally turning the tide around.  Djokovic had a dog fight in the first set against Tsonga, but eventually pulled it out in a tiebreak, and cruised to a nice second set win.

Tipsarevic was hoping to do better against Federer by varying his strategy, opting for more angles and softer hitting, but Federer knows how to handle such things.  Roddick, in his many attempts to beat Federer, tried many strategies, but many failed simply because Roddick wasn’t good at those other strategies.  Federer blitzed Tipsarevic, 63 61, showing that good serving is still key.

With his lopsided win, he adds some insurance if he finds himself in a tie.  He won in straight sets.  He lost very few games.  With this form, he should qualify outright.

This evening’s match should be a lot more even with the diminutive dogged Spaniard against the range Argentine.  del Potro has had a hard time beating David Ferrer this year, but Ferrer is just the kind of player del Potro needs to be able to beat.  Ferrer has won the most titles of anyone this year, winning 7 titles overall.  He’s won indoors, and outdoors.  He’s won on grass, on clay, and on hard courts.  Ferrer is coming off his first Masters 1000 title, something that has eluded this resourceful player.

It should prove to be an intriguing match.  Ferrer should be favored, but del Potro may be regaining his 2010 form.