First set:Roger Federer* 4-4 Dominic Thiem:Thiem still won’t be happy with his first serve percentage (48%), but he will be satisfied with how swiftly he has navigated his last few holds really well and continues to step in and fire missiles. This is high quality tennis from both now and the games are moving fast.
First set:Roger Federer4-3 * Dominic Thiem:Federer pieces together another solid hold to keep himself ahead. Some beautiful play from him; he wrestled control of the first point before finishing the long exchange with a forehand winner, then he slipped into the net and placed a great backhand volley winner. He held with a forehand drive volley winner. Federer is moving forward whenever he can.
First set:Roger Federer* 3-3 Dominic Thiem:Good work from Thiem to break the run of three games for Federer with a solid hold. He opened with a booming crosscourt forehand and held with another big forehand. Despite the errors, he’s still stepping into the court and taking the initiative whenever he can.
First set:Roger Federer3-2 * Dominic Thiem:While Thiem began to miss too many first first serves in his previous service game, Federer seems to be finding his rhythm on serve. He pieces together a second really solid service game behind plenty of first serves. It’s early days, but Federer’s first serve percentage is 73% . Thiem’s? 43% .
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First set:Roger Federer* 2-2 Dominic Thiem:That break did not last very long, did it? Thiem is determined to play this match entirely on his terms, but after a couple of early bruising forehands, he sprays a couple of groundstrokes. Great work from Federer to take the first break point with a solid backhand down the line. We’re back on serve.
First set:Roger Federer1-2 * Dominic Thiem:Federer gets on the board with a trademark love service game sealed with an ace. It only lasted about a minute.
First set:Roger Federer0-2 * Dominic Thiem:Thiem consolidates his break with aplomb, opening his service game with a service winner and closing it with a big forehand after a first serve. The Austrian’s first serve is already purring and he is finding his forehand behind it. He is here to play.
First set:Roger Federer0-1 * Dominic Thiem:That was some start from Dominic Thiem. After Federer nets a simple backhand volley, Thiem slots a brilliant forehand crosscourt winner on the run before bringing up break point by forcing an error with a great, deep forehand return. Federer gallantly saves two break points, but he shanks a forehand wide on the third. If you elect to serve first, you better hold.
Roger Federer and Dominic Thiem are out on the court.Federer won the toss and elected to serve. All out attack.
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In the doubles this evening, second seeds Łukasz Kubot and Marcelo Melo edged out Ivan Dodig and Filip Polášek 4-6 6-4 10 – 5.
Earlier today, Britain’s Joe Salisbury and Rajeev Ram of the United States fell 6-3 6-4 to Raven Klaasen and Michael Venus.
Do check out Kevin Mitchell on Djokovic’s swift victory earlier today.
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Novak Djokovic will be watching this match keenly.Here is the Serb’s assessment of Thiem earlier today:
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I think he was mentioning earlier in the week that this has been probably his best season, winning at home in Vienna, and of course that was a very important win for him. Indian Wells. We know how good of a player he is on clay. He’s been proving that he can play equally well on other surfaces.
He’s already established top-5, top – 10 player. We don’t need to talk about his qualities. Quality is great. His dedication and professionalism and hard work ethics is fantastic, and he’s a really nice guy. So all positive things about him.
His coach, Nico Massu, that I have known for many years and I have played against him, as well, they are a great team and they deserve to be here. It’s going to be interesting to see how he plays against Federer tonight, and then we’ll see after that.
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So, who will win?It’s a tough question. Both players arrive with reason to believe that this meeting should favor them. Thiem swaggers into this match-up after extending the head-to-head to 4-2 with two wins over the Swiss this year. Thiem produced a magnificent performance to defeat Federer on hard in the Indian Wells final, lasering winners at will from a set down to clinch perhaps the biggest win of his career.
The most striking part of their recent battles has been how thoroughly Thiem has dominated the baseline rallies between them, often leaving Federer with little choice but to serve well and attempt to disrupt Thiem’s rhythm while on the back foot. Thiem has shown time and time again that, when he is on, his sheer power and weight of shot is world class.
On the other hand, the pair played here last year and Federer easily dealt with Thiem 6-2 6-3. Although Thiem has improved significantly and has planned his schedule more intelligently this year, the fast court should help Federer’s serve and his first strike tennis. It should be a significant challenge for Thiem, who prefers slower courts that give him more time to set up his big swings.
This match will likely be pivotal in deciding who qualifies for the semi-finals, so let’s see who steps up tonight.
(Preamble)
Hello!Welcome to our coverage from day one of the ATP Tour Finals in London where the round robin group stage is just kicking off. Earlier in Group Borg, Novak Djokovic produced a statement performance by viciously dismantling debutante Matteo Berrettini 6-2 6-1 to open up the tournament. The players say that the courts are fast and the balls are bouncing low, and it certainly looks that way. It was a measure of Djokovic’s incredible returning that he broke the Italian’s booming serve 5 times in a row this afternoon. He begins as tournament favorite for a very good reason.
This evening, attention turns to a huge match in the stacked Group Borg betweenRoger Federerand Dominic Thiem. Both players arrive with perfect preparation. Thiem has enjoyed the best season of his career, reaching his second Roland Garros final, winning his first Masters 1000 title and capturing five titles in total. Most importantly, he has established himself as a top player across all surfaces. His new partnership with former Olympic champion Nicolas Massu has been fruitful and they have worked hard on complimenting his heavy hitting with more variety.
Federer endured one of the greatest heartbreaks of his career this year, falling to Novak Djokovic after holding double match point in their epic Wimbledon final. But beyond that, this has been another strong year for a 38 year old who improbably continues to compete with the best. A six time Tour Finals champ, Federer loves this event in general and he loves it even more with the faster courts this year. He won his fourth title of the year a few weeks ago by destroying the field at home in Basel so he comes into London both fresh and in great form.
Updated (at 1. 01 pm EST
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