Speed Post News Network
Patna : World No 3 Dominic Thiem, 27, Austria, beat five-time champion & World No 1 Novak Djokovic, 33, in a three-set thriller lasting 2hr 54 minutes in the first semi-finals to reach the final of Nitto ATP Finals, the second highest tier in men’s tennis after the four Grand Slams tournaments, on November 21, 2020, night. Thiem was runner-up in 2019 Nitto ATP Finals.
Reigning US Open Champion Thiem beat Djokovic 7-5, 6-7, 7-6 atO2 Arena, London, UK, winning 1 break point. Thiem bombed 12 Aces in the match to 4 by Djokovic. Thiiem was trailing 2-4 in the third set tie-btreak but clawed his was back into the match by winning 4 points to make it 6-4. The Austrian, in all, won 119 points in the match to 115 by the Serbian, the winner of 17 Grand Slam singles titles. Thiem, however, also committed 5 double faults to none by the Serbian. Both the players won one tie-break each.
Thiem’s winning percentage both on his first and second serve ( 82% & 58%) was slightly better than that of Djokovic’s ( 80% & 47%). Thiem also won 3 games in a row in the match. The Serbian failed to Thiem’s service even once in the match. Thiem had also defeated Djokovic in a Group Stage match in 2019 Nitto ATP Finals. Djokovic had also lost to World No 4 Daniil Medvedev, 24, Russia, in a Group Stage match. Djokovic though still leads Thiem 7-5 Head to Head.