Instinct and temperament, class, bravery and charisma, Stefanos Tsitsipas won the most important tournament of his career at the O2 in London by winning Dominic Thiem in the final ATP Finals match. Even without any Masters 1000, with only four conquered titles, the Greek makes a vertiginous leap, as is his own game, distinguished by a special light, by genuine features that do not proliferate in the next tennis. Debutante in the competition, after attempting against Roger Federer in the semifinals, he beat the Austrian by 6-7 (6), 6-2 and 7-6 (4) in two hours and 35 minutes of a game undergoing a continuous swing and dominated by the emotional component.

Few expected these two protagonists in the direct fight for the title. Although this tournament has been giving opportunities to players who did not count so much on paper, as was the case with Alexander Zverev, last year, or Grigor Dimitrov, who took it two years ago by imposing David Goffin two years ago, the confluence of Nadal , Djokovic and Federer invited to think that at least some of them would be litigating for the cup. Credit has not been lacking during the week. Thiem knocked Djokovic into a superb favorite during the group stage and finished with Zverev in the semifinals. Tsitsipas won over Medvedev, one of the players of the year, and liquidated Federer at the crossing.

With the usual boldness

Thiem came out more tense, who had to face a break ball in the fifth game and at some point was carried away by anxiety. Tsitsipas played with the usual performance, taking risks with approaches to the network. That was how he faced the two created by the Austrian in the seventh, with the daring of which he usually shows.

Within a couple confrontation, Tsitsipas looked better, more like himself before the muscular proposal of a Thiem who had not just found his place on the court. Champion this year in Indian Wells, Barcelona, ​​Kitzbühel, Beijing (where Tsitsipas was imposed precisely) and Vienna, and finalist for the second consecutive year at Roland Garros, it was, however, the Austrian who worked best in the first tiebreaker, so uncertain as the development of the set. A long setback of the Greek with six in the set left Thiem with his service to close it and take advantage.

The toll was very high for him, who added only two points in the first four games of the second set, giving twice his service. Dry of energy, he built a catwalk on which his adversary wore, which he met with hardly any opposition. It was more an intermission than a second partial. Still under favorable inertia, Tsitsipas broke in the third game of the third set and approached the goal, but in one of the few samples of bisoñez he gave his serve in the sixth and left the outcome in the forward. Thiem was an example of an attitude towards adversity, he returned from 4-1 down in the final tiebreaker to equal four, but, with a greater sense of fatigue throughout the whole game, he did not refine at the decisive points. It was the night of Tsitsipas, the start of a tennis player called to everything.

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