In the second round of the round robin, Dominic Thiem and Stefanos Tsitsipas are through to their first NITTO ATP Finals semi-finals.
Thiem, who had defeated Federer in straight sets on Sunday, had another big result, this time defeating Djokovic in a three-set thriller. The Austrian defeated the Serb 6-7 6-3 7-6, and fired more than 50 winners throughout the whole match.
Novak Djokovic had this to say after the epic match against Thiem: “It was amazing. I have played him before. I know his game, but what he did tonight was just phenomenal.”
The 26 year-old from Vienna will now play, Italian debutant, Matteo Berrettini today at 2pm, but this match will have no consequences, as Berrettini is out of contention, having suffered his second defeat against Federer.
The second match of group Bjorn Borg will be a re-edition of this year’s Wimbledon final. Djokovic and Federer will face each other for the 49th time in their career and whoever wins will advance to the semi-finals.
In group Andre Agassi, Stefanos Tsitsipas impressed in a masterclass display against reigning champion, Alexander Zverev. The Greek defeated the German 6-3 6-2 and confirmed his place in the semi-finals in his NITTO ATP Finals debut.
Rafael Nadal, who is in the running for the world no.1 along with Djokovic was on the verge of suffering his second defeat against Daniil Medvedev. The Spaniard was 1-5 down in the third set, but rallied back and eventually won the match in a tiebreaker.
The player from Mallorca commented about his win: “I’ve been super lucky. Sorry for Daniil. It’s a tough loss. He was playing much better than me in the third set.”
Nadal will have to win against Tsitsipas to book his place in the semi-finals. Zverev also needs to do the same, if he wants to have a chance.
Picture: si.robi (Creative Commons Licence)
