Thiem stuns Nadal, Medvedev outlasts Zverev in ATP Finals
While Thiem eyes a last four berth, Nadal will have to beat Tsitsipas in his last group match to keep alive his hopes of reaching the semi-finals
Dominic Thiem held his nerve to claim an impressive 7-6 (9/7), 7-6 (7/4) win against Rafael Nadal at the ATP Finals as the Austrian moved to the brink of a place in the semi-finals on Tuesday.
Thiem over-powered Nadal behind closed doors at London’s O2 Arena to put a dent in the Spanish star’s bid to win the ATP Finals for the first time.
The world number three, who defeated reigning champion Stefanos Tsitsipas in his opening game, has won his first two matches in this year’s tournament as he looks to go one beter than last year’s runner-up finish.
Thiem will be guaranteed a semi-final place if Tsitsipas beats Russian seventh seed Andrey Rublev.
The 27-year-old has already enjoyed a year to remember, reaching two Grand Slam finals and winning one of the four majors for the first time when he defeated Alexander Zverev in the US Open final in September.
While Thiem eyes a last four berth, Nadal will have to beat Tsitsipas in his last group match to keep alive his hopes of reaching the semi-finals.
Nadal saw off Rublev in straight sets in his first match on Sunday, but the 34-year-old was unable to cope with Thiem’s power and poise.
Now Nadal has to do it the hard way if he is to land the biggest prize missing from his trophy cabinet ater losing the 2010 and 2013 finals at the prestigious season-ending event.
Nadal, who last month equalled Roger Federer’s record of 20 Grand Slams by winning the French Open, has won 86 titles but just one of those has come on an indoor hard court.
The world number two has qualified for the ATP Finals for 16 years in a row, but his record at the eight-man elite event pales in comparison with Federer and Novak Djokovic ater six injury withdrawals.
Although Nadal had vanquished Thiem in two French Open finals, the Austrian had no reason to fear him, having beaten the Spaniard on his favourite clay surface three times and defeated him at the Australian Open this year.
This was their first meeting indoors and a hard-fought first set went down to a tie-break without either player facing a break point.
Nadal raced into a 5-2 lead in the breaker, but hit back to level at 5-5 before his first double-fault gited the Spaniard a set point.
Nadal drove a backhand into the net to give Thiem a lifeline and the Austrian saved a second set point with a fierce forehand winner.
Matching Nadal blow for blow, Thiem earned his first set point and produced another blistering cross-court winner to clinch an intense 75-minute set.
Nadal responded with the first break of the match, unleashing a thunderous winner down the line at 3-3 in the second set.
Even then, Thiem wouldn’t be subdued and, holding his nerve in a brutal baseline duel, he grabbed his own first break in the next game.
Thiem had three match points at 5-4 ater a series of Nadal errors, but the Spaniard recovered his focus to save all three, his escapology even drawing rueful applause from Thiem.
Once again a tie-break was required and for the second time, Thiem came out on top, bludgeoning Nadal into submission with his relentless power and accuracy.
Earlier, Daniil Medvedev’s ATP Finals debut last year proved to be a chastening experience as he suffered three defeats but on Monday the Russian made his mark with an opening win against 2018 champion Zverev.
The 24-year-old’s 6-3 6-4 win put him joint top of the Tokyo Group alongside world number one Djokovic, who put on a masterclass to trounce debutant Diego Schwartzman 6-3 6-2.
Medvedev will face Djokovic on Wednesday and will take heart from the fact that the Serb also lost all three of his group matches on his debut in 2007 but returned a year later to beat Nikolay Davydenko to claim the title in Shanghai.
Djokovic has won four more titles since the event moved to London in 2009 and, judging by the way he clicked smoothly into gear on Monday, will take some stopping as he bids to equal the six of Roger Federer.
Medvedev will not be short of confidence though ater a superb display against Zverev who once again struggled to control his serving gremlins. “I actually didn’t know that he (Djokovic) was 0-3 in his first appearance,” Medvedev, who also beat Zverev to win this month’s Paris Masters, told reporters.