Daniil Medvedev won the biggest title of his career to date, when silencing world number 3 Dominic Thiem by 4-6 7-6 6-4 after 2 hours 43 minutes in the ATP Finals.
The tennis player who beat world number 1 Novak Djokovic and world number 2 Rafael Nadal before heading to the top of the match. Became the first player to beat three top 3 ranked players in the ATP Finals. He is the fourth player to do so in a singles tournament since the 1990 season.
In addition, the Russian national became the first player from her country to win a season-ending tournament since Nikolay Davydenko in the 2009 season.
“I always said before this tournament that it would be an amazing story if the first champion in the ATP Finals in London came from Russia and the winner in London for the last time was also from Russia,” said Medvedev.
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“Many thanks to Nikolay Davydenko who inspired all children like me to become champions here. I hope I can continue his achievements.”
Entering the Paris Masters two weeks ago, he recorded 18-10 wins against a top 10 ranked tennis player. But since arriving at the Paris Masters when he won the third Masters 1000 title of his career. He has won 10 straight wins, including seven against a top 10 ranked player.
Last season the 24-year-old debuted in the ATP Finals and went home without a win claiming just one set. Now at the end of the 2020 season he is unbeaten and getting 1,500 points. He also became a separate champion for the sixth time in the ATP Finals in the last six seasons.
Thiem did well as he secured the first eight break points he faced in the match using powerful serve and groundstrokes to get out of trouble.
After that Thiem often made mistakes and he couldn’t get up against players who were younger than him.
“What an incredible match. One of my best wins, over 2 hours 42 minutes, and three sets against an amazing player,” added Daniil Medvedev.
The Russian national is known for his tough defenses, but he has shown that he wants to take control of the game from the baseline and get onto the pitch to prevent Thiem from releasing powerful groundstrokes. He also attacked the Austrian forehand tennis player to kill his stride.
Thiem uses more of the backhand slice, imitating the strategy used by Nadal against the Russian national so as not to give him a chance to find rhythm But in crucial moments, like he did against Nadal, the Russian national takes advantage of the slower pace of play by frequently advancing to the front of the field.
Thanks to this victory, now the head to head between Medvedev and Thiem is 2-3. Just two months ago Thiem lost the ATP Finals final for the second time in succession, beating him at the US Open by three straight sets.
