Barclays ATP Tour World Finals - Group A

With all eight qualifying slots now complete, the Barclays ATP Tour World Finals draw has taken place and the two groups have been decided.

Group A consists of Novak Djokovic, Tomas Berdych, Marin Cilic and Stan Wawrinka

Group B consists of Roger Federer, Andy Murray, Kei Nishikori and Milos Raonic

Looking at the two groups, Group A seems to be the most clear cut, with the top two players progressing through to the knockout stages having played each of the other players within their group once, on a round-robin basis.

Novak Djokovic is the favourite to escape out of Group A in first place, with bet365 offering 4/9 for the Serb to go through on top of his group and paddypower 1/33 for the current world number one to qualify for the semi-finals in second place. Djokovic will not only be determined to win the ATP Tour World Finals but also finish the season at number one in the world rankings. To do this, Djokovic will have to win three matches at the O2 Arena and he is certainly capable of this and could have it sewn up by the time the event reaches the semi-final stage.

The biggest threat to Djokovic in Group A could come from Marin Cilic, who qualified for this event courtesy of winning the US Open and has taken at least one set off Djokovic in their last three matches. However, the Croat is yet to record a victory against Djokovic, having played him ten times to date and it is highly unlikely that the match against Djokovic will decide his fate in the tournament. Cilic can be backed at 6/4 with BetVictor to qualify for the semi-finals and 8/1 with Coral to win the group.

Marin Cilic will be pin-pointing the match against Tomas Berdych as the one which could decide his destiny in Group A and the big serving Czech player be pleased call upon his victory over Cilic in the ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament earlier this year. Berdych defeated Cilic in two sets in the final of the tournament which also featured Andy Murray and Juan Martin Del Potro. A recent tournament win in Stockholm plus a semi-final place at the Paris Masters will give Berdych confidence he can progress from the group and is 15/8 to qualify and 15/2 to win the group, both with paddypower.

The one player who is most out of form of all the eight players in the event is Stan Wawrinka. The Swiss world number four has been struggling over the last two months and since making the quarter-finals of the US Open in September, has not progressed beyond the last 16 of any tournament. The defeats in these tournaments have all come to players outside of the top ten and this does not bode well for the tests Wawrinka is about to face in London and he will surely have to win his first match of the round-robin against Tomas Berdych if he is to stand any chance of qualifying for the semi-finals. paddypower offer 7/4 for Wawrinka to qualify from Group A and SkyBet 9/1 for the Swiss player to cause a surprise and win the group.

From Group A, it`s difficult to look beyond Djokovic as the main contender to go all the way and win the ATP Tour World Finals, especially having done so on the previous two occasions. The world number one is 1/3 with paddypower to make the final and 10/11 with bet365 to win his third finals in a row.

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05/11/2014     © Frixo 2026