ATP World Tour Finals 2019 Results: Tsitsipas vs. Thiem Final Set After Semis
Dominic Thiem will meet Stefanos Tsitsipas in the final of the 2019 Nitto ATP World Tour after both players won their semi-final matches at London's O2 Arena on Saturday.
Tsitsipas advanced to the final after an upset win over Roger Federer, his second notable victory at the expense of the decorated Swiss player this calendar year. Stubborn defence of his serve was the key to a 6-3, 6-4 win for Tsitsipas.
Thiem followed Tsitsipas' stellar performance by beating defending champion Alexander Zverev 7-5, 6-3.
Tsitsipas was in no mood to be swept aside by Federer. Instead, the Greek set about replicating his heroics at this year's Australian Open.
The process started with consistently thwarting Federer's attempts to rebound from an early deficit in the opening set. Those attempts included the 38-year-old combatting the Tsitsipas backhand with some powerful forehand strokes from the baseline:
Things continued in the same vein during the second, with Tsitsipas staying strong on serve. Federer secured just a single break point during the match, with Tsitsipas holding firm in key moments.
It was a case of some unfortunate history repeating itself for Federer:
Speaking of history, a piece of it awaited Tsitsipas, who joined a select group of players to thrive during their maiden exposure to this tournament.
The 21-year-old only advanced from the group stage at the expense of Rafael Nadal because Zverev beat Daniil Medvedev on Friday, but he is now in a position to take the title, provided he can overwhelm Thiem the way he did Federer.
It won't be easy, though—not against an opponent who proved his quality by outlasting Zverev. Like Tsitsipas, Thiem protected his serve well, saving four break points from four.
It makes the battle on serve in Sunday's final a fascinating one. Thiem can also trust his ability to force mistakes after his pressure led to a double-fault from Zverev on set point in the opener.
Later, making the most of shots aimed down the line helped Thiem seal things in the second:
The psychological edge will belong to Thiem on Sunday, after "the Austrian leads Tsitsipas 4-2 in their FedEx ATP Head2Head series and won their only 2019 matchup, last month on hard court in the China Open final," per the ATP official website.
Thiem will likely be the favourite for the final, but Tsitsipas has already proved he won't be intimidated by either occasion or opposition.
