Novak Djokovic survived an early setback, then made it look all too easy.
The Serb world No. 2, who has a chance to reclaim the No. 1 ranking at the O2 Arena at the weekend, rallied to beat Dominic Thiem 6-7 (10/12), 6-0, 6-2 on Sunday in his opening match at the season-ending ATP World Tour Finals.
Djokovic won nine of 10 games to take control of the match after losing the first set in a tiebreaker, and even that was close.
Photo: Reuters
“Yeah, a thrilling tiebreaker,” Djokovic said. “I had, I think, only one set point. He just played a good point. I was in the rally, but he just was going for his shots.”
Thiem had his first three set points at 6-3 in the tiebreaker, but he double-faulted twice and then put a backhand into the net to make it 6-6.
Djokovic had a chance, too, leading 9-8, but he could not close it out with Thiem serving, eventually hitting a backhand long. The Austrian finally won it on his seventh set point with a forehand winner, prompting Djokovic to smack a ball into the crowd.
After that, it was just about all Djokovic. The Serb reeled off six straight games to send it to a third set and then broke Thiem twice more to close it out.
“Even though I lost the first set, I thought I didn’t do too many things wrong,” said Djokovic, who saved the only break point he faced. “It was just the very high quality of his game that prevailed in the first set.”
In the following sets, it got to be too much for the Austrian, who was making his debut at the tournament for the top eight players in the world.
“I lost a little bit energy, not much, but just a little bit [after the first set],” Thiem said. “Of course, against a player like Novak, he immediately steps up. That’s how the second set went.”
Thiem said he had a chance to meet Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho after the match and the pair chatted briefly.
Thiem is a fan of Chelsea, who Mourinho has coached in the past.
In the late match, fourth seed Milos Raonic of Canada beat sixth seed Gael Monfils of France 6-3, 6-4.
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