Thiem gets past Djokovic in 3-set semifinal at ATP Finals

Dominic Thiem ended Novak Djokovic’s bid for a record-tying sixth ATP Finals title, beating the top-ranked participant 7-5, 6-7 (10), 7-6 (5) within the semifinals Saturday by grabbing seven of the final eight factors.

Thiem might have closed issues greater than an hour earlier, however he frittered away 4 match factors within the second-set tiebreaker, together with one by double-faulting.

Then the U.S. Open champion trailed 4-Zero within the final tiebreaker earlier than turning issues round. When it ended with Djokovic crusing a forehand lengthy, Thiem dropped his racket and coated his face together with his arms.

“It was, for sure, a mental battle,” Thiem stated.

The No. 3-ranked Thiem’s 300th profession match win put him within the closing of the season-ending match for the second straight yr; he was runner-up to Stefanos Tsitsipas in 2019.

No. 2 Rafael Nadal was scheduled to face No. 4 Daniil Medvedev in Saturday’s second semifinal. The closing is Sunday. None of the final three males within the discipline has received the match, that means there will probably be a sixth completely different champion over the previous six years, the longest such stretch since 1974-79.

It’s the primary time since 2004 — when Roger Federer, Andy Roddick, Lleyton Hewitt and Marat Safin did it — that the highest 4 gamers within the rankings stuffed the 4 semifinal slots for the ATP Finals.

This yr’s group is kind of a quartet: They mixed to win the previous 10 Grand Slam males’s singles titles and the final 9 Masters 1000 trophies.

Djokovic, already assured of ending the yr ranked No. 1 for a record-tying sixth time, was making an attempt to match Federer’s mark of six ATP Finals trophies. A title additionally would have made Djokovic, at 33, the oldest champion in match historical past; Federer was 30 in 2011.

In Saturday’s rematch of February’s Australian Open closing, wherein Djokovic beat Thiem in 5 units, there have been loads of lengthy baseline exchanges on the indoor arduous courtroom — the place issues had been quiet as a result of spectators had been banned because of the coronavirus pandemic — and few break possibilities for both participant.

Thiem confronted three break factors and saved all of them, fairly an achievement towards supreme returner Djokovic. And whereas Thiem managed to supply solely a pair of break factors, he used a type of to take a 6-5 lead within the opening set.

In the second, Thiem’s ace put him forward 6-5 within the tiebreaker, one level from victory.

But Djokovic saved that preliminary likelihood with a 127 mph service winner. Thiem’s subsequent alternative to win got here at 7-6, however he double-faulted. The third was at 9-8, when he pushed a down-the-line forehand broad. And then, at 10-9, Djokovic erased No. Four with a forehand that landed proper on a line.

That started a three-point run by Djokovic to steal the set and extend the match. He wanted 4 set factors in all to take action, however got here by when Thiem netted a backhand.

Afterward, Thiem acknowledged he was “tight and nervous” in that part. He regrouped, although, and got here by within the clutch an hour later.

Thiem is now solely the second man with at the very least 5 victories every towards Djokovic (5-7 profession mark), Nadal (6-9) and Federer (5-2). Andy Murray is the opposite.