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СпутникиРНSpaceXРоскосмосNASAMIKE DICKSON AT THE O2 ARENA: The 27-year-old Austrian defeated the world No 2 7-6, 7-6 in their ATP Finals group match, to move ever nearer to the weekend's semi-finals in London.
By MIKE DICKSON, SPORTS WRITER
Published: 16:43 BST, 17 November 2020 | Updated: 22:37 BST, 17 November 2020
Rafael Nadal stands level with Roger Federer on 20 Grand Slam titles, but the evidence grows that the Spaniard's prospect of winning one more is far from assured.
Dominic Thiem has emerged as a huge threat to him and he showed why in a brilliant match on Tuesday that deserved a full house, rather than the eerie quiet of London's deserted O2 Arena.
The 27-year-old Austrian defeated the world No 2 7-6, 7-6 in their ATP Finals group match, to move ever nearer to the weekend's semi-finals.
Rafael Nadal was left cursing his luck as he was beaten at the ATP Tour Finals on Tuesday
Dominic Thiem came up big in the two tiebreaks and that proved decisive at The O2 Arena
As was the case at the Australian Open in January, where Thiem won all three of their tiebreaks, he was the more composed in the bigger moments. He has now won three of their last four meetings.
It might even be a very close run thing were they to meet in next year's French Open. The Austrian is now the holder of a Grand Slam trophy after winning the US Open and it was only the exertion of that which blunted his challenge at Roland Garros this year.
Ominously, he showed on Tuesday that he can damage Nadal with his booming backhand down the line. That is the same stroke with which Novak Djokovic has hurt the Spaniard in recent years.
Thiem said: 'I practised that shot so much during the time off before the season was starting again, so I'm super happy with the way it worked out.'
Thiem dug in and refused to bow down to Nadal's serve and he ran out winner 7-6, 7-6
It will not be as easy to execute on clay, but he appears to have gained some psychological leverage in this match-up. Nadal led the first tiebreak 5-2 but crumbled to lose it 9-7.
At least Nadal could console himself that he still has a good chance of making the last four.
'I think both of us played at a very high level,' he said.
Nadal cut an exasperated figure in the end and he now faces a fight to reach the semi-finals
'He deserved to win because he played a little bit better in some key moments. I think my chances are bigger to have a very good result now than five days ago, because my level of tennis is much higher.'
Putney's Joe Salisbury and partner Rajeev Ram face a shoot-out on Thursday to reach the semi-finals after losing 7-6, 6-0 on Tuesday night in their second group match — to Holland's Wesley Koolhof and Croatia's Nikola Mektic.
With a 1-1 record, the Anglo-American duo must now defeat Germany's French Open champions Kevin Krawietz and Andreas Mies.