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Medvedev destroys Dominic Thiem’s dream in the ATP finals with a three-set win in the final.
London Daniil Medvedev only shrugged after the transformed match point – he accepted the biggest success of his career almost nonchalantly. But then the 24-year-old Russian smiled as he took the defeated Dominic Thiem into his arms. Two weeks after winning the Masters 1000 tournament in Paris, Medvedev also triumphed at the ATP Finals in London and is riding the wave of winter break success after a strong final streak of the season. The world number four won the final with a lot of morale against the US Open Thiem champion 4: 6, 7: 6 (7: 2), 6: 4. “What a game! Perhaps one of the best victories of my career” said Medvedev after lifting the mighty silver goblet in the shower of confetti. “Of course I’m disappointed, but Daniil really deserves it,” congratulated Thiem, who had asserted himself in the duel for last place with 7: 5 , 6: 7 (10), 7: 6 (5) against Serbian world number one Novak Djokovic.
The farewell performance in the almost deserted hall turned from the beginning into a balanced, upper-class test of strength. How difficult the final should be was demonstrated by Thiem’s first service game, which lasted just ten minutes. Both players were immediately at operating temperature and repeatedly involved in lengthy rallies, with a double fault Medvedev gave Thiem the first break to make it 3-2. The Austrian no longer gave up the advantage. In the second set, too, both players were mostly at eye level, but only showed high-quality tennis on occasion. Medvedev got into trouble time and again with his own serve, but Thiem negligently left good chances for the preliminary decision and Medvedev punished him in the tiebreaker. At the decision sentence, Thiem suddenly stood with his back to the wall, in 1: 1 he defended himself from three break balls. A little later, however, unable to break free, Medvedev grew stronger and stronger and took the break at 3: 2. The Muscovite showed no further weakness and secured the winner’s check for the equivalent of 1.32 million. euros.
Lost in the champions tie-break
The second decision on perhaps the most successful day in the history of red-white-red tennis also ended without a happy ending from ÖTV’s perspective: Jürgen Melzer, 39, and his French teammate Edouard Roger-Vasselin were also intercepted in the finish line. The surprise finalists had to admit defeat to Dutch-Croatian Wesley Koolhof / Nikola Mektic 2: 6, 6: 3, 5:10. That meant nothing came of the first double Masters win for an Austrian. In 2007, the toughest Julian Knowle and Sweden’s Simon Aspelin reached the ATP Masters final in Shanghai in sovereign fashion, but both had Mark Knowles / Daniel Nestor (Bah / Can) after a 2: 6, 3: 6 , 2: 6 Yield.
