Dominic Thiem Overpowers Novak Djokovic to Reach Back-to-Back Finals at the ATP Finals

On November 21st, tennis fans witnessed the first semi-final of the 2020 ATP Finals. This was played between Serbian star Novak Djokovic and Dominic Thiem. Here’s how the entire match went.

The First Set: Novak Djokovic vs Dominic Thiem

The first set of the match started with an easy service hold by Djokovic and Thiem returned the favour to level the score at 1-1. In later games, we saw some amazing rallies and some incredible winners from Dominic. Novak was still able to hold his serve but after sometime, the Austrian proved to be too strong .

At 5-5, Dominic raised his game to get his first break point and a costly miss from Novak allowed the Austrian to serve for the set at 6-5. With an ace, he closed out the set 7-5 to gain the upper hand in the first semi-final.

The Second Set

Moving into the second set, Novak started off strongly as he held his serve to love. However, that clearly had no effect on Thiem as he also won his service game very easily.

At 2-2, Djokovic dropped his level which gave Dominic a break point. However, errors from the Austrian allowed the Serb to hold his serve for a 3-2 lead.

At 5-6, a drop in Dominic’s level handed Novak 2 set points but Thiem played some incredible tennis under pressure to save them. He went on to hold his serve to force a second set tiebreaker.

In the tiebreaker, Djokovic raced to a 4-2 lead. However, an aggressive Thiem came back to get his first match point at 6-5 which he didn’t convert. He did not convert another at 7-6 and he paid the price as Novak got a set point at 8-7. In a great rally, Thiem saved the set point but unfortunately Novak got another one at 11-10. This time, the Serb converted and took the match into a decider.

The Third Set

After having so many match points, Thiem was visibly angry with himself. He started off the set with a strong service hold and Novak responded with an equally strong one.

Throughout the set, there were some intense rallies and some amazing winners from both players. Since they were serving so well, we didn’t see even one break point opportunity. The set went to a tiebreaker and the pressure was on both of them

Djokovic raced to a 4-0 lead to make it very difficult for Thiem to win. However, the Austrian played really well under pressure and won 6 straight points for 2 match points. He didn’t convert the first one but he converted the next to seal the match.

It is Thiem’s second consecutive final there and he will play either Rafael Nadal or Daniil Medvedev. He will be preparing very well to beat them to win his first title at the ATP Finals

Read More – Rafael Nadal vs Daniil Medvedev ATP Finals 2020 Semi-finals: Preview, Head-to-head and Prediction