ATP Finals: Tsitsipas defeats escape artist Thiem

Stefanos Tsitsipas from Greece won the ATP Finals 6: 7 (6: 8), 6: 2, 7: 6 (7: 4) against the Austrian Dominic Thiem. In the final of the best eight male tennis players of the calendar year in London Tsitsipas thus secured the succession of the German Alexander Zverev, who had defeated in the previous year's final Novak Djokovic. In 2019, Zverev lost out in the semi-final Thiem. For both Tsitsipas and Thiem reaching the final of the ATP Finals was the biggest career success.

THE NEW KING OF LONDON

S @StefTsitsipas becomes the first Greek player to win the #NittoATPFinals

: @TennisTV pic.twitter.com/vgqwdbfQiS

Both players sought their salvation on offense from the beginning. The spectators saw many network attacks and strong returns from Tsitsipas, Thiem was able to rely on his strong second service especially with the arrears at his own impact. Especially the seventh and eighth game of the first set were fiercely contested, but a break did not succeed any of the two players. Thiem dropped two breakballs, Tsitsipa's three. In the tiebreak Thiem led fast 3: 0, at the score of 6: 5 countered only his opponent, then again the Austrians - at 7: 6 he turned his second set ball.

Second set lasted only 26 minutes

While Thiem presented himself in the first round as a removal artist in his own service, the second began for him conceivably bad: Tsitsipas took him directly from the first two serve games. If Thiem had been able to get back to baseline during heavy attacking attacks, he pushed him backwards with force and had plenty of good options to place the balls victorious. His opponent attacked, Thiem made eight easy mistakes. After only 26 minutes, Tsitsipas logically picked up the second set 6: 2.

Thiem came back again and again

At the start of the third set, Thiem almost lost his serve again, but he was back in the game after bouncing back from two chances to break. However, the new momentum was gone quickly. First Tsitsipas won the following service in a dominant manner, then a backhand error from Thiem caused the next break to his disadvantage. The preliminary decision? No. The 26-year-old clay court specialist, who also made his breakthrough on the hard court this year, fought his way back into the match and broke 3: 3.

Decision in the tiebreak

The high-class match thrilled the audience in the Millenium Dome. This was followed by six outstanding serve games against passionately defending opponents. The decision had to fall in the tiebreak. Also there Tsitsipas first appeared on the winning road, but Thiem equalized with three Winnern in a row to 4: 4. A few minutes later, the decision: Tsitsipas turned after 2:35 hours his first match point to 7: 4.

The next major event for the two starts on January 20, 2020 - then it goes on at the Australian Open, the first Grand Slam tournament of the year.