Thiem savours China Open title

BEIJING: No. 1 seed Dominic Thiem opened up about his come-from-behind 3-6, 6-4, 6-1 victory over third-seeded Stefanos Tsitsipas at 2019 China Open tennis tournament in Beijingon on Sunday.

Thiem started off by calling the meeting a highlight of his career in the post-match press conference.

“Today was for me one of the best matches I’ve played in my life. Game style wise and also how I came back, it’s definitely one of my biggest titles because the tournament is so strong, the draw was so strong.

“Makes me very happy that I stand as the champion at the end of the week,” Thiem remarked.

Thiem pointed to a couple of key points in the match as decisive.

“I think there were two turning points. [One] was 3-6, 1-2, a break down. Straightaway I came back. I changed my return position a little bit. He served well, so I tried to mix it up a little bit. It worked out. Of course, it gave me a lot of confidence to come straight back into the match.

The other one was at 4-all, I was I think 4-3, Love-30, didn’t make it. 4-all I had to save a break point. I saved it very good. I broke him to 6-4. I think that was the moment of the match and the momentum switched,” he continued.

Thiem, who sealed his fourth title of the year with the win in Beijing Sunday, noted that Tsitsipas was a powerful opponent, especially on defense.

“He was going [at] an incredible pace in the first set. I really had trouble to keep it up.

“Always when I returned closer to the baseline, I didn’t hit the perfect return. He was straightaway coming in and straightaway putting [on] pressure. If he does that, he’s almost unstoppable.

That’s why I tried to return little bit farther behind the baseline to give myself more time.