US Open: Dominic Thiem is in the final after the gala performance against Daniil Medvedev
Dominic Thiem is in the final of the US Open! The Austrian beat Daniil Medvedev after an outstanding performance in the semifinals with 6: 2, 7: 6 (7) and 7: 6 (5) ( You can read the game here in our live ticker. )
by Nikolaus Fink
last edit: Sep 12, 2020, 04:59 am
In purely playful terms, semi-final number one on the men's side between Alexander Zverev and Pablo Carreno Busta left almost all wishes open. Even Zverev himself emphasized after the comeback victory that he was of course happy about making it to the finals, but that he had not played his best tennis again.
From the second semifinals of the day, however, one could expect absolute world-class tennis: Dominic Thiem and Daniil Medvedev, the two undoubtedly best players of the US Open, met - and it became clear in the first few minutes that the protagonists were able to meet the high expectations.
Referee decision upsets Medvedev
Both the Austrian and the Russian showed their entire class in the first few minutes, Thiem even started a little better than his opponent and consequently made the first break to 4: 2. The first loss of service at Medvedev was accompanied by the first outburst of anger - the 24-year-old wanted to have his serve checked, but both referee Damien Dumusois and the supervisor did not deviate from their decision.
Medvedev couldn't cope with this setback in the first set, the US Open finalist from the previous year was now making mistakes non-stop, had to accept another break to 2: 6 and thus the first set loss of the tournament. While the Russian barely placed balls in the field from the middle of the first round, Thiem played outstanding and tactically extremely clever tennis - with the backhand slice, the Lichtenwörther slowed down again and again in order to then exert pressure with the forehand.
Thiem wins contested tiebreaker
At the beginning of the second section, however, the dynamics of the game changed: Medvedev gained more and more control and was able to transport his break that made it 1-0 to a score of 5: 3. But just as the man from Moscow was serving to win the set, Thiem took the serve from him and confirmed the break after defending five breakballs for a 6: 5 lead.
Then Medvedev sent round number two into a tiebreak, in which Thiem was able to fend off a set ball and ultimately asserted himself 9: 7. The only downer from Thiem's point of view: He had injured himself in the sixth point of the brief decision and had to undergo treatment on the Achilles tendon before the third set.
At first, Thiem didn't seem to really affect the injury: The 27-year-old found a break opportunity in the first game, but left it unused and had to give up his serve to make it 2-0 a little later. The frustration of the three-time Grand Slam finalists grew, despite the 2-0 lead, as Medvedev found more answers to the varied game Thiems.
Thiem turns sentence three
In particular, when Thiem missed a break ball at the score of 1: 3 and slipped a little later, the Austrian's anger was clearly audible for everyone. "It can't be that I slip on hard court," complained the third in the world rankings.
But Thiem should still recover in set three: The Lower Austrian fended off a set ball from Medvedev at 3: 5 and shortened it to 4: 5 with a break. Then both players managed to serve - again a tie-break had to bring the decision. In this Thiem got off to a better start and quickly took the lead 4-0 and 5-1.
Thiem is in the fourth Grand Slam final
Medvedev came up again to 4: 5, but the lead should be enough for the Austrian. After 2:56 hours, the world number three used his second match ball - so the 6: 2, 7: 6 (7) and 7: 6 (5) success was certain. With this, Thiem fixed his fourth final in a Grand Slam tournament.
In the final, Thiem will meet Alexander Zverev in a duel for the first major title on Sunday at 10:00 p.m. CET. The Austrian leads 7-2 in the head to head - the 27-year-old also won the last encounter at the Australian Open.