ATP Finals: Stefanos Tsitsipas crowned king of London with drama victory over Dominic Thiem
Stefanos Tsitsipas won the ATP Finals in London for the first time in his career. The Greek defeated Dominic Thiem in the final 6: 7 (6), 6: 2 and 7: 6 (4) and drove his biggest career success so far. ( The match can be found in our live ticker ).
by Nikolaus Fink
last edit: Nov 17, 2019, 10:10 pm
"It's a big, big dream that has come true, it's one of the best and most prestigious tournaments of the year," Dominic Thiem had said after the semi-final win over defending champion Alexander Zverev. In the final, the Austrian should now get to do with Stefanos Tsitsipas, who had taken in the semi-final on his part Roger Federer from the tournament.
For both, London was nothing less than the biggest title of the career, Tsitsipas had so far only triumphed at the 250 level. Nevertheless, the Greeks got off to a better start in the O2 arena, which sold out with 17,500 spectators, and found the first breakball in the fourth game - but Thiem resisted thanks to a strong forehand.
Thiem and Tsitsipas forgive chances
The Austrian was then better in the match and earned at the score of 3: 3 two breakballs. The 26-year-old was unlucky, in particular: Thiem was good at rallies, but a Tsitsipas ball was eliminated, but was clearly on the line. So the point had to be repeated, Tsitsipas won this and a little later the game.
That seemed to disturb Thiem a little. His five-year-younger opponent took two chances to 5: 3, the Lower Austrians defended but worth watching and equalized again. The match remained tight, Thiem came back from 0:30 in 5: 6 and forced a tiebreak.
The Austrian, who will be fourth in the world ranking list starting on Monday, got off to a better start and took the lead 5: 2. Tsitsipas, however, came back, fending off a set ball and setting 6: 6. But Thiem was not deterred and won set number one after a hard fight with 7: 6 (6).
Tsitsipas strikes back
However, the 21-year-old Greek struck back at the start of the second round and made the break 1-0. Tsitsipas was not dissatisfied with it and took Thiem to the 3: 0 again from the impact - the catastrophe start from the point of view of the Lichtwörthers in set two was perfect.
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The two-break lead was the world rankings sixth no longer take Tsitsipas won the second section confidently with 6: 2. Advantage for Thiem: He was allowed to start the all-important third set with a markup.
Almost that was the Indian Wells winner this year to doom. Tsitsipas put in a lot of pressure and got two breakballs, which Thiem destroyed with sensational strikes and put them 1-0. But two games later it was finally time, the Greek broke deservedly to 2: 1.
Thiem breaks out of nowhere
Tsitsipas was the better man in this phase of the game, but Thiem came out of nowhere to break. The Greek scattered some unforced errors and thus helped his opponent to 3: 3 compensation.
After that, none of the two players had anything to gain, both Thiem and Tsitsipas brought their serve games through sovereign. At the score of 6: 5, the Austrian again forced the 21-year-old to serve against the match loss. Tsitsipas kept up the pressure again, so a tiebreaker had to decide on victory or defeat.
Tsitsipas crowns world champion
Tsitsipas scored the first mini-break to 3: 1 and put another to 4: 1 after. Thiem struck back and shortened to 3: 4. The Austrian even made up for 4: 4, but had his serve back to 4-5. That was enough for the Greek, who served the 6: 7 (6), 6: 2 and 7: 6 (4) victory.
The 21-year-old thus celebrated the biggest success of his career and crowned himself the unofficial world champion of tennis. "I do not know how I played so well in the second set, it was an excellent set, it was a bit frustrating to play so nervously, I'm so relieved," Tsitsipas said right after the match.
"It was an incredible game, both of us doing the most mentally brutal sport, and we both fought to the very end, you deserve it," said a visibly disappointed Dominic Thiem at the award ceremony.