ATP Barcelona: Dominic Thiem after beating Rafael Nadal in the final
Dominic Thiem is in the final of the ATP Tour 500 tournament in Barcelona for the second time after 2017. The Lower Austrian defeated defending champion Rafael Nadal 6: 4 and 6: 4 and faces Daniil Medvedev in the final on Sunday (live from 4 p.m. on Sky and in Austria on ServusTV).
by Jens Huiber
last edit: Apr 27, 2019, 07:03 pm
Both players started the match focused, even if Nadal opened with a double mistake. Dominic Thiem was the player who took the initiative and also broke the break to 3-2. And missed several chances to 5: 2. Often Nadal is enough to play back a match. But Thiem kept his level up, served after 58 minutes to 6: 4.
In the second round, Thiem had two chances to break again, but only used his eleventh to make it 3-2. Until then, the eleven-time Barcelona champion had not had a single opportunity to take the service of the 25-year-old Lichtenwörther.
These chances came in the very last game when Nadal had a 0:40 available. Dominic Thiem could not be stopped, scored five points in a row and entered the Barcelona final for the second time after 2017.
Here is the link to the live ticker
It was the twelfth confrontation between the two clay court experts. Nadal had won eight of the first eleven. Daniil Medvedev is now waiting in the final on Sunday. After a tough fight, the Russian won 6: 4, 3: 6 and 7: 5 against Kei Nishikori. In head-to-head with Medvedev, Thiem leads 1-0.