Thunderous surprise ATP Finals: Djokovic and Nadal eliminated | Tennis

sport">Thiem and Djokovic went right in the first set, until the Austrian got the only break point of this set. He used this and won the first set: 7-5.

sport">There were also hardly any breakpoints in the second set and so it went to a tie-break. And what kind of one. The Serbian led 4-2, but gave away this lead. At 6-5 Thiem got his first match ball, which Djokovic managed to get rid of. Eventually Thiem would get three (!) Match points, but Djokovic managed to get rid of them all and even win the tiebreaker (12-10) and the set.

Tennisthriller

sport">There was a true tennis thriller in London between the two, because the two were also unable to break each other in the third and decisive set. And so it went again towards a tie-break, now for a place in the final. Djokovic quickly took a 4-0 lead, but Thiem showed resilience and made five points in a row: 5-4 for the Austrian. At 6-5 and the fifth match point it was hit: game, set and match Thiem.

sport">Thiem won his first grand slam title at the US Open more than two months ago. At the start of the season, the Austrian also reached the final of the Australian Open, but in that he had to lose against Djokovic.

Nervous

sport">The Austrian showed resilience and recorded the three-hundredth victory of his career. “This was a mental fight,” said Thiem, who has now won five of the last seven duels with Djokovic. „The tiebreak of the second set was so exciting. I thought that after my first grand slam title in New York I would be a bit quieter at such moments, but no. I was just as nervous as before. All the parties here at the ATP Finals are so ‘close’, but that’s because the best tennis players in the world face each other here. ”

sport">Both Thiem and Djokovic were very dominant on their own service. Thiem never returned his service, Djokovic did that once in the first set. The Austrian did hit a double fault a few times in the tiebreaks, including on one of his match points.

Medvedev keeps Nadal out of ATP’s final battle

sport">Russian tennis player Daniil Medvedev has qualified for the final battle of the ATP Finals at the expense of Rafael Nadal. The 24-year-old Medvedev, number 4 in the world, defeated the Spaniard 10 years older in the semifinals of the end-of-year tournament in three sets: 3-6 7-6 (4) 6-3. The Russian will compete with Thiem for the title in London on Sunday.

sport">Nadal is left with an empty spot on his honor roll. The number 2 in the world has won almost everything there is to win on the tennis court, but the ATP Finals have never. Twice Nadal lost the final of the final tournament to the eight best tennis players of the year.

sport">Medvedev is still unbeaten in London this week. The Russian defeated Alexander Zverev, Djokovic and Diego Schwartzman in the group and also dealt with Nadal on the English hard court. A break in the seventh game of the deciding set turned out to be the decisive moment in the match. On Sunday evening, a new duel with Thiem awaits Medvedev in the final, who defeated him two months ago in the semi-finals of the US Open.

sport">“We have already trained together twice on the center court here in London,” said Medvedev. “It was a lot of good rallies. We are both in good shape, we will see each other here again on Sunday. ” After victories over the numbers 1 and 2 in the world, the Russian can win a check for more than 1.5 million dollars (about 1.3 million euros) if he also beats the global number 3.

–