Tsitsipas beats Thiem to win maiden ATP Finals crown in marathon final

Stefanos Tsitsipas clinched his maiden ATP Finals title by defeating Dominic Thiem (6) 6-7, 6-2, 7-6 (4) in 2 hours and 35 minutes at the O2 Arena in London.

Published : Nov 18, 2019 02:34 IST

Stefanos Tsitsipas became the first Greek to win the season-ending championship.
Stefanos Tsitsipas became the first Greek to win the season-ending championship.
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Stefanos Tsitsipas became the first Greek to win the season-ending championship.

Stefanos Tsitsipas broke through the Austrian resilience of Dominic Thiem and came back from a set down to win the ATP Finals title (6) 6-7, 6-2, 7-6 (4) in 2 hours and 35 minutes at the O2 Arena in London on Sunday.

World No.6 Tsitsipas and world No.5 Thiem saved two and three break points, respectively, in the first set and held their serves till 6-6 to head into the tie-breaker.

Thiem bagged a mini-break on the first point of the tie-breaker rode the momentum to bag the first set in 65 minutes.

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The Greek, however, mounted a solid comeback. Tsitisipas began the second set in extraordinary fashion by breaking Thiem in game one and three and held his first two service games to go up 4-0. He wrapped up the set 6-2 in 28 minutes to push the match into the decider third set.

Both players dug deep and unleashed fierce groundstrokes. While Thiem unleashed vicious backhand down the line winners, Tsitsipas made repeated use of the serve and volley tactic. Tsitsipas broke Thiem in game three but the Austrian broke the Greek’s serve in game to six to draw level at 3-3.

The two first-time finalists played out exciting holds till 6-6. The final set tie-breaker proved to be lopsided as Tsitsipas fought his way back from 1-4 to win the tie-breaker 6-4 and lift the his third title of 2019, and the fourth overall.

The head-to-head count of the two tennis talents now reads 4-3 in Thiem’s favour.

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