Roger Federer sent an ominous warning to his rivals after easily dispatching David Ferrer in his opening match of the ATP World Tour Finals.
There have been questions about whether the 16-time Grand Slam winner would be able to continue to play at his best as he approaches 30 years of age, but the Swiss maestro showed he was still a force to be reckoned with as he beat world number seven Ferrer 6-1 6-4 in London.
After fifth seed Andy Murray has crushed Paris Masters winner Robin Soderling earlier on Sunday, Federer blitzed Ferrer in the opening set, taking two breaks to race to a 4-0 lead.
The Spaniard was no match for Federer from the back of the court, and continued to make errors as the world number two served out the set 6-1.
The second was a much more even contest as Ferrer found his rhythm and cut out the mistakes which had hurt him in the opener.
The set went on serve until Federer broke in the fifth game to take a 3-2 lead, but Ferrer almost broke straight back after earning a break point the very next game.
The Spaniard continued to heap pressure on the Federer serve, but couldn't win the crucial point to level the set.
He held two more break points as Federer served for the match at 5-4, but missed a simple forehand to give the advantage back to his opponent.
Federer eventually served it out 6-4 to ensure he sits on top of Group B after one match, ahead of Murray on games conceded.
Group A gets underway tomorrow at the O2 Arena, with Serbian Novak Djokovic taking on Czech Tomas Berdych and world number one Rafael Nadal playing American Andy Roddick.