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The fact that Dominic Thiem can demonstrate his greatest strength in the tie break has not been known since the US Open. He was able to play this force in his second match at the ATP Finals on Tuesday in London against the great Rafael Nadal (Sp) and catapulted 7: 6, 7: 6 with two sets immediately before the semi-finals in the season-ending tournament of the best eight. Tennis player of the year.
Novak Djokovic and Daniil Medvedev also had a successful start to the ATP Finals. Serbia’s world number one won on Monday night against Argentine Diego Schwartzman 6: 3, 6: 2. Then the Russian seed number four had the advantage over German Alexander Zverev with 6: 3, 6 : 4. Schwartzman, who qualified for the season finale in the top eight for the first time, could only keep up with Djokovic in the opening minutes. He even took the lead with a break in the first set, but immediately had to give up his service himself. After 2-2 he only won three games.
Djokovic, naturally, is aiming for his sixth title in the tournament’s finals in London. He won four times (2012, 2013, 2014, 2015) in London and once in Shanghai (2008). Last year he failed in the group stage after losing to Dominic Thiem and this year missing Roger Federer. In the second Tokyo group match, Medvedev was clearly the better man against Zverev. The Russian, who recently won the final against the German in Paris-Bercy, achieved certain success after the highly competitive start phase. Medvedev will play Djokovic on Wednesday, while Zverev will play Schwartzman.
Monday’s first game was unfortunate for Jürgen Melzer and his French teammate Edouard Roger-Vasselin. After a strong first set, the duo suffered an initial defeat in London and had to defeat world number one Mate Pavic / Bruno Soares (Kro / Bra-1) after 83 minutes 7: 6, 1: 6 and 4: 10 give. The Austro-French pair will now face the loser of the first game, John Peers / Michael Venus (Aus / Nsl-6) in the free-for-all “Bob Bryan” group on Wednesday.
In the case of two-time Grand Slam doubles winner Melzer, who finished his career at the Australian Open in January, disappointment prevailed despite his strong performance. Even if the set won on the final score it can be critical for a spot in the semi-finals. “The sentence, of course, can help. Right now the disappointment is of course great, because we really played a very good first sentence and at the beginning of the second it just slipped away too quickly,” Melzer summed up in the video press conference by Zoom.
“Suddenly it’s 0: 4 and you’re in the championship tiebreaker. Unfortunately, we couldn’t keep up with the opening mini-break and they deservedly won,” admitted Melzer. If he and Roger-Vasselin want to somehow reach the semi-finals, they have to win Wednesday’s matches against Peers / Venus and Friday’s against Marcel Granollers / Horacio Zeballos (Sp / Arg -4). Only the first two of each group advance.
“You have to win the last two games if you want to go to the semi-finals. Especially against Peers / Venus. I’m looking forward to it, I also know that this will definitely be my last Masters and of course I try to enjoy it,” Melzer explained. participating for the third time in the double masters. “Still, it’s only good when you win. I’d like to do that in the next two games.” (Red)
