Thiem Ends Berrettini Run, Reaches First Vienna Final

In his 10th straight appearance at the Erste Bank Open, Dominic Thiem reached his first final in Vienna on Saturday with a 3-6, 7-5, 6-3 win against Matteo Berrettini.

In front of a packed crowd at the Wiener Stadthalle, the home favourite once again found his best level in crucial moments to advance after two hours and 33 minutes. Thiem is the first Austrian to reach the championship match at this ATP 500 event since Jurgen Melzer defeated Andreas Haider-Maurer in the all-Austrian 2010 championship match.

Thiem, who broke Berrettini on five occasions, improves to 8-0 in Austria this year. The World No. 5 lifted his maiden title on home soil at the Generali Open in Kitzbühel without dropping a set in August.

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The Austrian will face Diego Schwartzman or Gael Monfils in the championship match. Thiem leads Schwartzman 4-2 in their FedEx ATP Head2Head series and is unbeaten in five matches against Monfils.

Among players who have contested 10 or more deciding sets this season, Thiem leads the ATP Tour with an 11-2 record. The 26-year-old’s comeback win also snaps Berrettini’s streak of 28 straight victories after winning the first set.

Berrettini was aiming to boost his chances of qualifying for the Nitto ATP Finals. The Italian currently occupies the eighth and final qualification position for the elite eight-man event with 2,660 points.

Did You Know?
Since the beginning of the 2016 ATP Tour season, Dominic Thiem has reached 20 finals. Only Novak Djokovic (25), Rafael Nadal (23) and Roger Federer (21) have reached more championship matches in the same period. Federer will aim to reach his 22nd when he faces Stefanos Tsitsipas in the Swiss Indoors Basel semi-finals today.

from Tennis - ATP World Tour https://ift.tt/2Pm8VNJ