Thiem can now book a spot in the semi-finals of this elite year-end event with a victory Friday over Belgium’s David Goffin.
Austrian tennis player Dominic Thiem (Photo: AFP)
Austria’s Dominic Thiem edged Spain’s Pablo Carreno Busta 6-3, 3-6, 6-4 here for his first victory of this year’s ATP Finals.
Thiem can now book a spot in the semi-finals of this elite year-end event with a victory Friday over Belgium’s David Goffin, while Carreno Busta, who replaced injured world number 1 and countryman Rafael Nadal, has been eliminated from the tournament after losing his opening match.
The fourth-ranked Thiem came into this Pete Sampras Group contest at the O2 Arena in London on Wednesday with a 4-0 career record against Carreno Busta, the world number 10, and appeared headed for a routine victory when he broke serve twice en route to an easy first-set win, Efe news reported.
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The Spaniard hurt his cause with 11 backhand unforced errors in the opening set, but he came alive with his return game in the second to break Thiem once for a 2-1 lead and a second time to force a decider.
The two players traded breaks of serve over the first six games of the third set, but Thiem got a critical break in the ninth game and then finished off the match thanks to some big first serves.
Both players have been mired in a slump since the US Open, with Carreño Busta having only won one match since reaching the semi-finals in New York and Thiem having won just three (not including Davis Cup).
Bulgaria’s Grigor Dimitrov, who also is in the Pete Sampras Group, has already booked a spot in the last four of this indoor hard-court tournament, while Swiss world number 2 and six-time champion Roger Federer has advanced out of the Boris Becker Group.
Round-robin play continues Thursday in the Boris Becker Group when Federer takes on Croatia’s Marin Cilic (already eliminated) and American Jack Sock plays off against German world number 3 Alexander Zverev for a spot in the semi-finals.
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