Stefanos Tsitsipas captured the biggest title of his career on Sunday,
making the successful transition from 2018 Next Gen ATP Finalschampion
to the Nitto ATP Finals crown, 12 months on.
The sixth-seeded Greek defeated fifth seed Dominic Thiem of Austria
6-7(6), 6-2, 7-6(4) over two hours and 35 minutes in the championship
match at The O2 in London. At 21 years and three months, Tsitsipas is
the youngest Nitto ATP Finals champion since former World No. 1
Lleyton Hewitt (20) in 2001 in Sydney.
Additionally, this is the fourth straight year that a first-time
season finale titlist has been crowned, following in the footsteps of
Andy Murray (2016), Grigor Dimitrov (2017) and Alexander Zverev
(2018). The last time this happened in the tournamentโs history was
from 1988-1991 with Boris Becker (1988), Stefan Edberg (1989), Andre
Agassi (1990) and Pete Sampras (1991) winning the title.
Tsitsipas, who earned $2,656,000 in prize money and 1,300 ATP Rankings
points in five matches this week, is also the first player since David
Nalbandian in 2005 to recover from losing the opening set and claim
the title. Fourteen years ago, Nalbandian recovered from 0-2 sets down
against Roger Federer to win the five-set 2005 final in Shanghai.
In the opening exchanges, both players engaged in long rallies, but
showed willingness to attack the net on the fast indoor court.
Tsitsipas came close to the first breakthrough, but Thiem struck a
powerful backhand at 1-2, 30/40.
As rallies began to get drawn out, Thiem began to make inroads, but
Tsitsipas โ who saved 11 of 12 break points in his semi-final win over
Roger Federer on Saturday โ held firm in the seventh game, saving two
break points with gutsy net play for a 4-3 advantage. Thiem then
recovered from 15/40, with an ace and a forehand volley winner on the
stretch to level the scoreline.
In an inevitable tie-break, Thiem stepped up, ripping through his
forehands and attacking the net to keep Tsitsipas behind the baseline.
Soon, the Austrian had a 3/0 lead, but Tsitsipasโ serve held up and he
recovered to 5/5. Tsitsipas saved a set point at 5/6 by approaching
the net for a volley and smash winner, but Thiem clinched his second
set point with a powerful serve that Tsitsipas returned into the net.
Tsitsipas was undeterred. The youngest finalist since Juan Martin del
Potro (21) in 2009 (l. to Davydenko), regrouped and was handed the
first game of the second set by Thiem, who mis-hit a forehand, and
later moved to a double-break advantage after hitting volley and
forehand winners. Clean ball strikingโ10 winners to one unforced
errorsโfrom Tsitsipas meant that their seventh FedEx ATP Head2Head
meeting was decided by a third set. Last month, Thiem beat Tsitsipas
3-6, 6-4, 6-1 in the China Open final in Beijing.
Having saved two break points in the first game of the decider, Thiem
came under pressure once again at 1-1, but as the Austrianโs backhand
faltered, Tsitsipas carried the momentum to a 3-1 advantage.
Thiem immediately bounced back to win three straight games, but in the
deciding set tie-break โ the first since 2005 โ Tsitsipas surged to a
4/0 lead. While Thiem recovered to 4/4, he hit a forehand into the net
at 5/6 and Tsitsipas didnโt need a second invitation to close out the
biggest victory of his career.
