The more than 20,000 fans that packed the London O2 turned to Dominic Thiem's great tennis, which knocked down Novak Djokovic in three hours (6-7 [5], 6-3, 7-6 [5]) to reach the semifinals of the Masters Cup. "It is one of those epic games for which I have been training throughout my life," said the Austrian, after climbing an adverse 0-3 in the last 'tie-break'.
This result postpones for Thursday the resolution of the Bjorn Borg Group, with an exciting duel between Djokovic and Roger Federer. The winner will enter the next round and the defeated will leave home. Thiem, on the other hand, will be able to reserve forces against Matteo Berrettini, who on Tuesday lost all kinds of options after yielding to the Basel genius (7-6 [2], 6-3).
A hypothetical victory of Federer would be an added reward for Rafa Nadal, which would automatically retain the 'number one' of the ranking until the end of the year if Djokovic is out of the semifinals.
With the encouragement from the stand of his coach, Nicolás Massú, Thiem confirmed the formidable level of the last two months in fast surface and under roof. His majestic one-handed setback, with which he buckled the recent titles in Beijing and Vienna, wreaked havoc on Djokovic, who could only admit the evidence. "I know he can play at a very high level, but tonight it was just phenomenal," the Serbian analyzed.
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