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Nadal and Thiem win at the start of the ATP Finals
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Dominic Thiem achieved an important victory in the ATP Finals on the long-awaited path to the semi-finals. Photo: John Walton / PA Wire / dpa
Source: dpa-infocom GmbH
London (AP) – Record French Open champion Rafael Nadal and US Open winner Dominic Thiem got off to a successful start to the ATP finals.
World number two Nadal won his first group match in London against Russian tournament rookie Andrei Rublev with a convincing 6: 3, 6: 4. The Spanish tennis star remains without the season-ending title of the eight best professionals of the year. Rublev won five tournaments in 2020, but was unable to put Nadal in danger.
Before that, Austrian Thiem won his much more competitive game against defending champion Stefanos Tsitsipas 7: 6 (7: 5), 4: 6, 6: 3. After a break to 2-0 in the third set and 2 : 17 hours of play, the world number three converted his second match point. Thiem and Tsitsipas had met in the final of the ATP Finals last year, at which point the Greek prevailed in three sets.
Nadal and Thiem thus achieved important victories in the group “London 2020”. The first and second classified of the two groups reach the semifinals.
German number one Alexander Zverev fights in the group “Tokyo 1970” to get ahead and makes his first appearance on Monday (9 pm / Sky) against Russian Daniil Medvedev in the almost empty room. Hearing is not allowed due to the coronavirus crisis. The tournament will be held in London for the last time and is worth $ 5.7 million.
© dpa-infocom, dpa: 201115-99-342234 / 3
