ATP Finals 2020: Dominic Thiem beats Rafael Nadal - semi-finals as good as fix
Dominic Thiem also won his second match at the ATP Finals 2020 in London. The Austrian defeated Rafael Nadal 7: 6 (7) and 7: 6 (4).
by tennisnet.com
last edit: Nov 17, 2020, 05:39 pm
Here you can read the match in the live ticker
Dominic Thiem is in the semifinals of the ATP Finals 2020. After Stefanos Tsitsipas, the Austrian also beat Rafael Nadal, this time with 7: 6 (7) and 7: 6 (4) and has already won his group. The Spaniard initially fended off three match points at 4: 5 and 0:40. For Thiem it was the sixth victory in the 15th encounter with Nadal.
The tie-break in the first set was not for the faint of heart: Nadal quickly led 5: 2, Thiem came up to 5: 5, but then made a double mistake. Nadal could not use his two set balls, instead Thiem nailed an inside-out forehand into the field after 72 minutes of play, which Nadal had to leave unanswered. This small comeback also continued a series that had started at the Australian Open 2020 - Thiem already got three tiebreaks there in the quarter-finals against Nadal.
Nadal fends off four match points
Nadal managed the first break of the match in the seventh game of the second set: This time the Spaniard had been waiting for Thiem's inside-out, countered along the line with his forehand. But: Dominic Thiem immediately equalized after the next sensational rally. And Thiem immediately followed up - got three match points on Nadal's serve, but the 20-time major champion fended them off. The second with the help of the net tape. Nadal equalized with a passing ball after a Tweener praise.
And again a tie-break had to decide. Thiem gave up his serve right at the beginning, but he got the mini-break back immediately. When the score was 3: 3, the sides were changed for the first time. At the first point after that, Thiem managed a terrific backhand pass, and the Austrian immediately followed up with the backhand cross. The forehand winner brought the next three match points.
In the second match of the day, starting at 9 p.m., it's all about survival at these ATP finals. Then last year's winner Stefanos Tsitsipas and debutant Andrey Rublev meet, who have lost their respective first matches.
o2arena