After the first two days of round robin at the 2019 NITTO ATP Finals Novak Djokovic is making his bid to finish the year as world no.1.
The Serb beat new-comer, Matteo Berrettini 6-2 6-1 to lead the Bjorn Borg group. The Austrian, Dominic Thiem, who is enjoying his best season beat six-time champion, Roger Federer 7-5 7-5. It was the third time Thiem beat the Swiss this year.
Thiem will be looking to advance to the semi-finals for the first time. In his other three appearances at the season finale, he did not advance from the group stages.
The 20-time Grand Slam champion, Federer is defending his semi-final run from last year, and has to win his next two matches, if he wants to qualify for the later stages of the tournament once again.
The Swiss maestro commented on his loss: “It’s a normal tournament from here on forward. I’m not allowed to lose anymore. That’s how it is every week of the year for the past 20 years, so from that standpoint, there is nothing new.”
Yesterday, in the Andre Agassi, the Greek, Stefanos Tsitsipas made a winning debut by beating Daniil Medvedev 7-6 6-4. Tsitsipas and Medvedev had faced each other five other times, with the Russian always winning.
The 21-year-old from Athens said after his winning start: “It was better than I dreamt of.”
The last game on Monday, saw the reigning champion, Alexander Zverev take on Rafael Nadal. The German was inspired and in-control throughout the whole match, defeating the Spaniard for the first time in his career. He won 6-2 6-4.
Nadal is returning after withdrawing from his semi-final in Paris with an abdominal injury, and has not been able to put in the practice hours that he would have wished. Nadal will be looking to come back from his loss tomorrow and make his case for the no.1 finish along with Djokovic.
The Bjorn Borg group is back in action today. Federer will face Berrettini at 2pm and Thiem and Djokovic will complete today’s action.
In the Andre Agassi group, Nadal and Medvedev will play at 2pm, and Tsitsipas will face Zverev in last game tomorrow.
Picture: si.robi (Creative Commons Licence)
