Federer closing in on Tour Finals semis

London, England (SportsNetwork.com) - Six-time champion Roger Federer was an easy round-robin winner Tuesday at the season-ending $6 million ATP World Tour Finals in London.

The second-seeded Wimbledon runner-up and former world No. 1 superstar handled fourth-seeded U.S. Open finalist Kei Nishikori 6-3, 6-2 in 69 minutes at The O2. Federer smacked seven aces and was not broken on Day 3, while Nishikori coughed up his serve three times en route to defeat.

Federer improved to 2-0 in the four-player Group B with his tour-best 70th match win of the year, while Nishikori dropped to 1-1 for the week.

Federer, who is making a record 13th consecutive appearance at the Tour Finals and has an outside chance of capturing the year-end top ranking, holds the record for the most titles at this exclusive event.

If Federer were to qualify for his 12th career Tour Finals semifinal, it would tie the record set by Ivan Lendl. The 33-year-old Swiss icon would also be the oldest player to advance to the last four since 2003 runner-up Andre Agassi.

Tuesday's Group B night session match will pit fifth-seeded British favorite Andy Murray (0-1) against seventh-seeded Milos Raonic (0-1).

Wednesday's round-robin action will come from Group A, as world No. 1 and Wimbledon titlist Novak Djokovic (1-0) will take on third-seeded Australian Open champ Stan Wawrinka (1-0) and sixth-seeded former Wimbledon runner-up Tomas Berdych (0-1) will face sixth-seeded U.S. Open champ Marin Cilic (0-1).

The reigning two-time and three-time overall Tour Finals champion Djokovic topped Rafael Nadal in last year's finale here in London. The 27-year-old star is two wins away from clinching the year-end No. 1 ranking for the third time in four years.

Nishikori, Raonic and Cilic are making their Tour Finals debuts this week.

Round-robin action will be staged here through Friday, followed by the semifinals on Saturday and lucrative final on Sunday.