London (AFP)
Dominic Thiem won a match of a high level and very great physical intensity against Rafael Nadal 7-6 (9/7), 7-6 (7/4), Tuesday at the London Masters, making a great not towards the semi-finals.
Thiem (3rd in the world) thus won his second victory in as many matches in the London 2020 group after beating Stefanos Tsitsipas (6th) on Sunday.
The 27-year-old Austrian, finalist in London last year and winner in 2020 of his first Grand Slam tournament at the US Open, will be sure to play in the semi-finals if Tsitsipas beats Andrey Rublev (8th) in the evening.
For Nadal (2nd), on the other hand, the task is complicated and everything will be decided Thursday at the end of the last day of the group stage for the London 2020 group, during which he will face Tsitsipas.
Thiem saved two set points in the tie-break of the first set before putting up three consecutive runs and pocketing the set.
In the second set, the Austrian offered himself three match points at 5-4 and 40-0 on Nadal's serve, but the Spaniard chained five consecutive points to return to 5-5.
The two players reached the decisive game again, during which Thiem broke off 6-3 and offered himself three more match points.
He concluded on the second.
© 2020 AFP