Photo credit: atptour.com
Dominic Thiem avenged his 2019 ATP Nitto final exit on Sunday defeating reigning champion Stefanos Tsitsipas who also did same to him in last year’s edition.
Thiem was it his best at the start of the third set to overcome the Greek 7-6(5), 4-6, 6-3 in a game that lasted two hours and 17 minutes.
The US Open champion who is making his fifth straight appearance at the season finale, moved to 1-0 in Group London 2020 and 5-3 in his ATP Head2Head series against Tsitsipas.
Twelve months after falling to Tsitsipas in a final-set tie-break at The O2, Thiem took control of rallies with his forehand to claim a crucial advantage in the deciding set.
The Austrian’s victory extended his impressive record against Top 10 opposition in 2020. Thiem has won six of his eight matches against Top 10 players this season.
After the game a happy Thiem in an on- court interview said every win against a Top 10 player at the Nitto ATP Finals is something special
“I experienced in the past four years how important it is to have a good start in this tournament, to ideally win the first match.
“I am very happy that I did it,” said Thiem in an on-court interview.
“Today(Sunday) was a little bit different [to last year]… [There were] only two breaks in the whole match,” said Thiem.
“I think the conditions are pretty fast here, so I am super happy with my win.
” Every win against a Top 10 player at the Nitto ATP Finals is something special and every win against Stefanos is something special, because he is such a great player.
“He is established and has won so many big titles already.”
Thiem and Tsitsipas are joined in Group London 2020 by two-time runner up Rafael Nadal and tournament debutant Andrey Rublev.
Nadal and Rublev will contest their second ATP Head2Head encounter (Nadal leads 1-0) in the final match of Day.
