Novak Djokovic v Dominic Thiem: ATP Finals – live! – The Guardian, Theguardian.com

Second set:Novak Djokovic7-6 (5) * 0-1 Dominic Thiem:If you think Dominic Thiem is going anywhere, think again. He holds to 15 with a booming serve down the T.

Thiem opened up the second set with a serve and volley, which was really nice. It showed Djokovic that despite the disappointment of losing such a tight first set, he is thinking clearly and his brain is still ticking nicely.

First set:Novak Djokovic7-6 (5) Dominic Thiem:Djokovic takes the first set! Just as it looked like a few too many errors were beginning to cake Thiem’s game at 3-5, he responded by obliterating an inside out forehand into the corner. At 4-5, both men stood on the baseline crushing the ball back and forth, and it was once again Thiem who stepped up and crushed another inside out forehand winner.

But it was not to be three forehands in a row. The third landed just long and, with the match on his serve, Djokovic fired a big serve to finally move ahead.

First set:Novak Djokovic6-6 (4-2) Dominic Thiem:The crazy tennis has continued into the tiebreak with a face-melting point early on . At 1-0, Djokovic tracked down every last Austrian bomb before threading backhand crosscourt passing shot beyond Thiem at the net. But down 2-3, Thiem double faults. Did he just blink?

First set:Novak Djokovic6-5 * Dominic Thiem:One of Djokovic’s many strengths is his ability piece together swift, easy holds when they are needed. After failing to break Thiem in the previous to game, he speeds through a love hold to put the pressure straight back onto the Austrian’s shoulders. Djokovic has won 84% of his first serve points so far.

First set:Novak Djokovic5-5 * Dominic Thiem:These holds are getting tougher, but Thiem digs out another to level the match. From 15 – 30 down, Thiem crushed two huge forehands in succession to bring up game point. The Serb came up with a great deep return to take Thiem to deuce, but the Austrian held firm, slipping to the net with a great serve and volley to hold.

Stat check:

• Djokovic had 9 winners and 2 (!) Unforced errors.
• Thiem has 8 winners and 8 unforced errors.

How long can Thiem keep this up?

First set:Novak Djokovic* 3-3 Dominic Thiem:A gutsy hold from Dominic Thiem, who saves three break points to hold. The level right now is absolutely bonkers and this is easily the highest quality match of the event. Thiem saved Djokovic’s first break point with a screaming backhand down the line winner, Djokovic sprayed a forehand on the second and then the Austrian found a big body serve on the third. He held with a delicate drop shot after more booming forehands.

First set:Novak Djokovic* 3-1 Dominic Thiem:Djokovic breaks! Everyone talks about big serves and big weapons, but despite being the best returner in the world, Djokovic’s return is still probably underrated. Djokovic saved Thiem’s ​​game point at 40 – 30 with an incredible backhand return off a good 127 mph Thiem serve that landed right to at the Austrian’s toes. Feeling the pressure of Djokovic’s return, Thiem then overcooked the next second serve. Two points in one.

A big forehand drive volley miss from Thiem on break point and Djokovic is up.

First set:Novak Djokovic1-0 * Dominic Thiem:Djokovic comfortably gets himself on the board without Thiem landing a single shot in the court: Service winner, ace, double fault, ace, unreturned serve. Easy start. Good serving.

In other news, former WTA # 4 Dominika Cibulkova retired today.You may remember her as the 2014 Australian Open finalist and victor of the WTA equivalent of this event in 2016. She was just 5’3 tall yet managed to outhit players nearly a foot taller than her.

And here is Kevin Mitchell on Margaret Court and Serena Williams.An ominous reminder that still have two weeks of the season left yet the Australian Open is already creeping up on us. Yikes.

Some stats for you.

• Thiem and Djokovic have both won an ATP Tour-leading 5 titles this year.
• Thiem has won 40 matches for the fourth straight season
• It was Thiem who snapped Djokovic’s 26 Grand Slam win-streak in their bizarre, epic, crazy, wind-ravaged French Open semi-final this year.
• Thiem became only the second player to beat Nadal 4 times on clay. After his opponent today, of course.
• As he chases the year end number one ranking, Djokovic has been number one for 275 weeks, 3rd on the all time list and just 11 weeks from Pete Sampras at number two.
• Djokovic became the first player to win 3 straight Grand Slam titles three times this year.

Do check out Kevin Mitchell’s piece on Federer’s smooth win over Matteo Berrettini.

Great stuff earlier today from Britain’s sole representative this week, who secured his first ever ATP Finals win alongside partner Rajeev Ram.

Hello!Welcome to day three of our coverage from the ATP Finals. Earlier on today, Roger Federer nabbed his first win of the event with a 7-6 (2) 6-3 win over Matteo Berrettini. Federer never really had to leave third gear, while Berrettini continues to look overawed against the giants. Despite his two routine losses, the Italian may still have a role to play in this event when he faces Thiem, who he defeated just a few weeks ago in Shanghai. Stay tuned.

But it is now time for the main event as Sunday’s victorsNovak Djokovicand Dominic Thiem wrestle for supremacy in the O2 Arena. The pair have a very interesting history. Djokovic leads their head to head 6-3, but Thiem has won three of the last four. However, their last five meetings have occurred on Thiem’s ​​native clay courts and they haven’t played on hard court since 2016. In their most recent meeting, Djokovic dropped the first set before obliterating Thiem in the final two, 6-7 (10) 6-0 6-2.

Back in 2016, Djokovic’s early ballstriking, court positioning on top of the baseline and early, flatter backhand always seemed like a difficult match-up for Thiem, whose strokes were always rushed on faster courts. But Thiem is a completely different player now and one of the biggest themes of this year has been Thiem’s improvement on surfaces other than hard courts. What an opportunity this is for the Austrian to make another statement on the surface many consider his worst.