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Dominic Thiem having lost his two opening matches in the Lleyton Hewitt group to Kevin Anderson and Roger Federer badly needed a win to keep alive his slim chances of making it through to the semi-finals. The Austrian responded with a 6-1, 6-4 victory over Japan's Kei Nishikori in his final group match.
The match started with Nishikori making 11 unforced errors in the opening 3 games. Nishikori failed to produce the quality of tennis which he produced to beat Roger Federer in his first group match. Thiem dominated proceedings in what was a must-win contest for both men.
Thiem was troubled in the 5th game of the opening set and he battled 4 break points to take a commanding 4-1 lead. It was smooth sailing as Thiem served it out after breaking Nishikori again.
The second set was more competitive and the turning point came with the twom men level at 3-3. Thiem managed to break the Nishikori serve for the first time in the second set to take a 4-3 lead. That was the only break in the set as Thiem coasted to victory without dropping a single point in his final service game. Thiem finished off the match in style with a thundering ace.
"I wasn't thinking about winning in two sets, I wasn't playing good in my other matches, so I just wanted to show my real self and it was way better." remarked Thiem after the match.
The result meant that Kevin Anderson became the first player in the Lleyton Hewitt group to move to the semi-finals. Thiem's win boosted Roger Federer's chances of progressing to the semi-finals. The Swiss ace will book his place in the semis if wins at least one set.
Even if Federer loses in straight sets, he can still make it to the semis if he wins at least 5 games if both sets go to 6. In the case of a straight sets loss to Federer with one set going to 7, then Federer will go through if he wins a combined total of at least 6 games.
If Anderson grabs a straight sets victory later today, the rest of the players in Group Lleyton Hewiit - Thiem, Federer and Nishikori - would be tied on one win each and the same number of sets won, with the semi-final berth decided by percentage of games won.
