[ad_1]
Dominic Thiem wins against Novak Djokovic in the semifinals of the ATP Finals 7: 5, 6: 7, 7: 6 and thus reaches the second consecutive London final.
6:23 pm, November 21, 2020
Tennis fans had a nail-biting semi-final on Saturday afternoon at the ATP Finals in London. Dominic Thiem defeated world number one Novak Djokovic after 2:54 hours with 7: 5, 6: 7 (10), 7: 6 (5) and is in suite for the second time in the final of the Masters. For Thiem it was his 300 ATP individual victorythat was very special. In the second set tie-break, Thiem missed four match balls, more than an hour later he used the sixth.
The US Open winner and last year’s finalist is battling him for the second time in a row for the title at the last ATP tournament of the year. The 27-year-old from Lower Austria had last year’s winners in group games. Stefanos Tsitsipas Y Rafael Nadal conquered. On Sunday (not before 7 pm / Sky live) Thiem will meet again with Nadal or with the Russian Daniil Medvedev.
Click on the best images of this match.
AFP
AFP
AFP
AFP
AFP
AFP
AFP
AP
AFP
AFP
AP
AFP
AFP
AFP
As in the previous year, Thiem beat two of the “big three” in the ATP season match, which was worth $ 5.7 million. How much does this earn Roger Federer, Nadal and Djokovic deserve, shows another statistic: It was in match 12 the fifth victory over “Djoker” and Thiem is next Andy Murray (GBR) the only player to have won at least five against the three living tennis legends. It’s 5: 2 against Federer, 6: 9 against Nadal.
With this success, by the way, his fifth out of a current No. 1, Thiem has already secured 800 ATP counters and 861,000 US dollars (725,786 euros) in gross prizes. The final is about 500 more points and an additional $ 550,000 for Thiem.
“Mental battle”
“That will surely be a mental battle. I was so nervous in the second set tie break“said a relieved Thiem after writing” 300 🙂 Play for the Ocean “on the television camera.” Playing against these legends will always be something special, and playing for the finals here is also very special. “
“After my first big title in New York, I thought I would be a little calmer, but apparently it was a mistake,” he laughed at the O2 Arena, which was empty due to the crown crisis. “I was as nervous as ever, the game was on the brink. I am incredibly happy to be done.“
Regardless of whether it is against Nadal or Medvedev, Thiem now also wants to take the last step in London. “After fighting so hard Obviously I want to try everything to win the title.. Now we definitely have another first-time winner here, “Thiem explained, because Nadal and Medvedev didn’t win the ATP Finals either.
Nail biting semifinal
The match started evenly, if not upper class first. The three best players remained intact in the service. It wasn’t until 5: 5 that Thiem was the first to find a break point opportunity. And he used it to 6: 5 and it served as a result with an ace at 7: 5 after 51 minutes.
Also in the second round it was Thiem who at 2: 2 and 30:40 a chance to break found, that the 33-year-old Serbian was able to defend himself. With Djokovic 4: 3, Thiem had to defend against a breakball for the first time. It got really tight at 5: 6when Thiem fell behind with 3:40 pm. But thanks to the new strong serves in the “big points”, he fought back against both set balls and drew 6: 6.
This tie-break was extremely dramatic, but this time at a disadvantage of the 17-time winner of the Lichtenwörth tournament: at 6: 5.7: 6.9: 8 and 10: 9, Thiem had nothing less than four match balls, all was left unused – the double error in 7: 6 was particularly bitter. So it was the Serbian, all his fourth set at 12:10 and used the sentence setting.
After two hours of play, the set of decisions began. In this, Thiem and Djokovic held their services until another tiebreaker at 2:45. And in this Thiem succeeded It was no longer possible to catch up: After a double fault at the start he was caught 0: 4 behind, Djokovic can’t take something like that normally anymore. But among other things with two aces Thiem got six points in a row at 6: 4, Nicolas Massu’s protégé used the sixth match point to win.
Thiem has won five of the last seven games against the “Djoker” and returned the favor by losing in five sets this year in the Australian Open final.
