AUSTRIAN fifth seed, Dominic Thiem has become a giant killer in the 2019 ATP Finals, first knocking over third seed Roger Federer, before downing world number two, Novak Djokovic. The Serbian star was more of a challenge with the young up-and-coming talent having to force his way back into the contest from a set down to deliver a blow to Djokovic’s hopes of a semi-finals birth with a 6-7 6-3 7-6 victory. The result meant Thiem automatically qualified for the semi-finals with just eighth seed Matteo Berrettini to come in the final round of the three round robin series. The other semi-finals spot will be determined by the winner of Djokovic and Federer’s match.

Thiem was just as good defensively as he was offensively, having to save six of a possible nine break points, as Djokovic could not do the same from four which was a remarkable feat in itself. While Djokovic hit an impressive 28 winners throughout the match, Thiem powered home to hit a mind-boggling 51 winners – but an equally mind-boggling 51 unforced errors – in what could only be described as a risk-taking approach that ultimately paid off. Such was the evenness of the contest, Thiem won just an extra two points for the game, which was what counted in the 7-5 tiebreak to determine the win and a spot in the semi-finals.

In the other match of the Borg Group, Federer bounced back from his straight sets loss to Thiem to eliminate Berrettini from the ATP Finals. Berrettini was always going to have it tough against three top five players, but was more competitive against the Swiss Master, going down 7-6 6-3. There was not much between the players for the majority of the contest, as Federer capitalised on his break point chances, breaking his young opponent twice while saving three break points himself during the match. Playing a consistent game as we have come to expect from Federer, he hit just 17 unforced errors as Berrettini felt the pressure racking up 29. The Italian showed he is not afraid of matching Federer at the net however, winning 79 per cent of his points there. The consistency of the triple-figure title winner was too much in the end however, as Federer got the job done and will move on to face Djokovic for a spot in the semis as Berrettini finishes the tournament against an all-conquering Thiem.

Day 3 results – Borg Group:

[5] Dominic Thiem defeated [2] Novak Djokovic 6-7 6-3 7-6
[3] Roger Federer defeated [8] Marco Berrettini 7-6 6-3