ATP Beijing: Comeback King Dominic Thiem turns finals against Tsitsipas!
Dominic Thiem celebrated his 15th tournament success on the ATP tour at the ATP 500 tournament in Beijing. In a high-class final, he defeated Stefanos Tsitsipas 3: 6, 6: 4 and 6: 1. As in the semifinals, Thiem turned a set and break gap into a win.
by Florian Goosmann
last edit: Oct 06, 2019, 04:07 pm
Thiem smashed a serve-and-volley attempt on the second serve right at the start with a huge forehand, after which he broke Tsitsipas to zero. But: Thiem missed the opportunity to do it right away. Minor mistakes and a double mistake followed, which equalized 1: 1, and in the middle of the first set both Thiem and Tsitsipas increased the level powerfully.
At 3: 3, however, Thiem let his forehand down, two break chances he fended off spectacularly, the third no more. Thiem didn't get an opportunity to rebreak, but Tsitsipas stayed cool. In the end it was a few mistakes too much for Thiem, but in the end only 58 percent of the first serves in the field - and accordingly few free points.
Thiem turns up to the end
In set two, Thiem directly equalized a 1: 2 break deficit, but he did not use three break balls in 4: 3. At 4: 4 Thiem showed great volley qualities, very important: a half volley stop at Breakball Tsitsipas! Then, at Tsitsipa's serve: three Thiem violent strikes for three set balls. A back pass ball shot finally (with the help of the net) equalized: Thiem's 19th winner with only 4 mistakes without need in round two.
In the third set Thiem pulled away with the break, he was now on fire, while Tsitsipas was getting angry. The Greek remained the game of honor at 5-0 for Thiem, who then served to zero. In the end, 35 winners with 22 mistakes without need were at Thiem, Tsitsipas was also just positive with 31 to 29.
This marks the 15th tournament victory for Thiem, the fourth in the current season after Indian Wells, Barcelona and Kitzbühel.
The entire match for reading in the tennisnet live ticker!
"To be honest: it was one of the best matches I've played in my career," said Thiem. "We both hit more winners than mistakes." He hopes that the rivalry with Tsitsipas will continue in the coming years.
Thiem with a dream week
Thiem had had three spotless matches during the week, convinced with great serve strength and aggressiveness, including an extremely lively match against comebacker Andy Murray . In the semifinals he had won against Karen Khachanov after a 2-6, 3-5 draw deficit .
Tsitsipas had ended Alexander Zverev's good week in the semi-finals.
Thiem next starts at the Masters 1000 tournament in Shanghai, where he got a good draw. After a walk-through in round 1, he is up against a qualifier or Ze Zhang from China. Roberto Baustista-Agut could wait in the quarterfinals.