LONDON: The first time Dominic Thiem played at the ATP Finals, he was handed an unknown Greek teenager as a hitting partner in training. Three years later, Thiem is facing that same player in the final of the season-ending tournament.

Thiem dispatched defending champion Alexander Zverev in the semi-finals on Saturday after Stefanos Tsitsipas eclipsed six-time winner Roger Federer, setting up a title match between two players who first met each other at the O2 Arena under very different circumstances.

“I just saw a picture before that I practiced with him the first time I played here 2016,” Thiem said after beating Zverev 7-5, 6-3. “He was a hitting partner here. It’s an amazing story for both of us. We didn’t think that only three years later we were going to face each other in the final.”

The now 21-year-old Tsitsipas had the most eye-catching win on Saturday, saving 11 of 12 break points to beat Federer 6-3, 6-4. He also took advantage of an error-filled performance from Federer, who continually put his opponent under pressure only to come up short when it mattered.

“I’m proud of myself, how hard I fought today, how concentrated I stayed in the breakpoints,” said Tsitsipas, who reached the biggest final of his career. “Didn’t crack under pressure. I was very composed and very mature in my decisions.”

It will be only the third time since 2002 that at least one of Federer, Rafael Nadal or Novak Djokovic have not reached the final and while it may not signal a changing of the guard, the week has felt like a momentum shift for the new generation.

While Thiem, 26, qualified for the last three years, Tsitsipas has wowed the London crowds for the first time with his fearless attacking style.

It takes some self-belief to stand toe-to-toe with Federer on one of his favourite courts and in front of 17,500 fans who were mainly there to cheer the Swiss great.

But Tsitsipas did just that in an outstanding display. Having got ahead he soaked up everything Federer threw at him and returned it with interest.

World number three Federer, 17 years older than his opponent, was unusually profligate when his chances came along, failing to convert his first 10 break points.

Tsitsipas, showing no fatigue after a near three-hour group stage defeat by Nadal on Friday, was far more clinical, taking three of his four chances.

“I’m frustrated I couldn’t play better, and when I did and fought my way back, I threw it away again,” Federer, who never scaled the heights he reached when beating Djokovic, said.

Even at the death Federer looked as though he might turn it around as Tsitsipas wobbled briefly when serving for the match.

Yet it was not to be as Tsitsipas reached the biggest final of his career.

In the evening match, Zverev landed 75 percent of his first serves but Thiem was tougher in the big moments, breaking in the 12th game of the opening set and in the sixth game of the second set. The Austrian also saved all four break points on his racquet.

Germany’s Zverev, who beat Djokovic in last year’s final, went toe to toe with Thiem in a relatively uneventful first set but served a double fault to lose the opener 7-5. The seventh seed, 22, regrouped and settled back into his serving rhythm at the beginning of the second set but was broken again to trail 4-2.

Thiem, looking unflustered, fended off a couple of break points in the following game and served out to take the match, winning with a forehand down the line.

Published in Dawn, November 18th, 2019