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The ATP Finals is all set to get a new champion after Stefanos Tsitsipas knocked out six-time champion Roger Federer and Dominic Thiem ended the title defence of Alexander Zverev.
The 21-year-old Greek, who had accounted for Federer at the Australian Open earlier in the year, produced sublime tennis to notch up a 6-3, 6-4 win over the 20-time Grand Slam champion. Having reached the final on debut, he emulated the feats of 2017 winner Grigor Dimitrov and 2017 runner-up David Goffin, both of whom made it to the final in their first appearance at the prestigious season finale.
Tsitsipas's resilience and his brilliant serves on break points stood out in the first semi-final that lasted an hour and thirty-six minutes. The Greek saved as many as 11 of 12 break points, thereby denying whatever little chance Federer had to come back into the match. Even when the Swiss finally managed to make in-roads into the 21-year-old's serve in the third game of the second set, the joy did not last long for the maestro as Tsitsipas came roaring back.
The victory also enabled Tsitsipas to even the head-to-head record with Federer at 2-2.
The World No. 6 will hope to avenge his China Open final defeat when he takes on the fifth-ranked Thiem, who emerged a 7-5, 6-3 winner over Zverev. The Austrian, who has been highly impressive this week with wins over Federer and Novak Djokovic, made it to the final for the first time in four attempts.
Much like Tsitsipas, the 26-year-old Thiem also showed steely nerves on break points, saving all four of them. Even though the defending champion served better in the first set, the Indian Wells Masters champion was able to secure the solitary break of serve in the 12th game that did the job.
That was all the two-time French Open runner-up needed to keep up the pressure on the German, who crumbled early in the second set to concede a 2-5 lead. Thiem capitalized on it and moved into his seventh final of the season, where he is seeking his sixth title of the year.
