Just an year ago Stefanos Tsitsipas won the ATP Next-Gen finals in Milan. In 2019 he had a great season thus becoming one of the youngest to qualify the Nitto ATP finals, which is held among the top 8 ranked players in the world.
The Greek however surprised many including himself by lifting the convoluted trophy in his very 1st attempt. He did so the hard way by defeating Roger Federer in the semis and an in form Dominic Thiem in the finals.
Thiem Taking Early Advantage
This 1st set itself gave an indication of how the match was going to be. Each player held his serve tight with minimal fuss. There were some break points here and there but none was converted.
It came to a tie break shootout which the Austrian Thiem took by 8-6. The early advantage looked to prove decisive in context of so little margins between the two great players.
Tsitsipas Comes Roaring Back
Just as it looked that he is being pushed back, Stefanos Tsitsipas played one of his finest sets of the tournament. He broke the Thiem serve twice in succession to take the 2nd set 6-2.
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The season’s last match was heading towards a fitting finale and tennis fans in the O2 arena were getting each pound of their ticket prices back.
Tsitsipas Gets The Glory
The 3rd set again resembled the 1st set. No player was able to break the opponent and thus the final match on the season would come to a tie-breaker.
Each player had served well in the set but appeared to lose points on serve in the tie-breaker. The occasion certainly seemed to get on both of them. Thiem however made a few more unforced errors handing his Greek opponent not just the set and match but also the title.
In the end there was very less to separate the two giants of the game but when it came to crunch moments Tsitsipas just showed a little more determination, a little more awareness and a little more ruthlessness to close out the biggest match of his young but already booming career.