WORLD number four Daniil Medvedev has won the first ATP Finals of his career, defeating world number three Dominic Thiem in the decider. Medvedev came into the match in form, having won nine consecutive matches including six in a row against the world’s top ten. This streak continued on Monday morning, as Medvedev won 77 per cent of first serve points and only gave Thiem four break point opportunities en route to the most important title of his career so far. Thiem has now lost two straight ATP Finals deciders after going down in a final set tie-break last year to Greece’s Stefanos Tsitsipas.

Daniil Medvedev (RUS) defeated Dominic Thiem (AUT) 4-6 7-6 6-4 

In the first set, Thiem saved two break points in the opening game before breaking Medvedev at 2-2. The Austrian held on to take the set and looked on his way to his second title of the season. Medvedev fought hard in the second set, holding his serve the whole way through and forcing a tie-break. Medvedev’s then earned his first tie-break victory against Thiem this season, winning an incredible seven straight tie-break points to send the match to decider. In the final set, Medvedev had numerous chances to break Thiem’s serve early but could not capitalise. This was until the fifth game, when the Russian got the break before holding serve for the remainder of the set to take the title.

”What a match. One of my best victories, two hours [and] 42 [minutes], three sets against an amazing player,” Medvedev said post-match. “Dominic, congratulations already for what you achieved in your career. Your name is already in the history of tennis books. It is amazing. You won a Grand Slam this year. You are playing unbelievable. I hope we are going to have many more matches to come on the big occasions like this.”

Medvedev is now the second player ever (after Novak Djokovic in 2008) to go winless in their ATP Finals debut and win the tournament the following year. By defeating Djokovic, Thiem and Rafael Nadal in the tournament, Medvedev is also the first player to beat the top three ranked players on his way to lifting the ATP Finals trophy.