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Rafael Nadal followed Dominic Thiem into the semi-finals of the ATP final in London. The world number two defeated previous year’s winner Stefanos Tsitsipas 6: 4 4: 6 6: 2 in the group’s final game “London 2020” on Thursday night.
Thiem was already the winner of the group before the third day. The winner of Friday’s duel between world number one Novak Djokovic and German US Open finalist Alexander Zverev awaits him in Saturday’s semifinals.
Nadal, who was beaten by the Austrian in straight sets on Tuesday, secured the second berth to the semi-finals. 20-time Grand Slam winner Nadal never won the final season of the tour. In the semifinals he will now face Russian Daniil Medvedev, who has already secured victory in the group “Tokyo 1970”, but has never lost against Nadal.
Tsitsipas only keeps up on the second move
For Tsitsipas, whom Thiem was still slightly behind Thiem in last year’s ‘Masters’ final after leading the sentence, this time it was already the end of the group stage. The Greek took the second set after a weak serve from Nadal, but otherwise the Spaniard dominated the game.
Nadal hadn’t shown his best tennis multiple times in recent seasons at the end of the year. This time around, the 34-year-old looks much fitter with just six tournaments on his legs. They survived the group stage for the first time since 2015.
More also at the ATP World Tour Finals in London
