Nadal edges Tsitsipas in thriller

World number one Rafael Nadal of Spain beat Greece’s Stefanos Tsitsipas 6-7(4) 6-4 7-5 in the final day of the group stage at the ATP Finals in London, where Tsitsipas had already clinched qualification to the semifinals.

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Coming into the match, the Spaniard held a 4-1 head-to-head record against the Greek, though they had never faced each other indoors before. Neither player held a single break point in the first set, which Tsitsipas won in a tiebreak (7-4). In the second set, Nadal was able to break Tsitsipas for a 5-4 lead, and he then held serve in the subsequent game to clinch the set 6-4 and force a decider.

Neither player was able to break serve in the third set, until Nadal broke Tsitsipas for a 6-5 lead after converting on his fifth break point of the set. The Spaniard then served out the match in the following game to take it 6-7(4) 6-4 7-5 in two hours and 54 minutes. Despite the loss, the Greek was still extremely impressive on serve today. He hit 11 aces and saved seven of the nine break points that he faced throughout the match. Both players had positive winner to unforced error ratios as well.

As a result of Nadal’s win, he has kept his qualification hopes alive while eliminating Russia’s Daniil Medvedev at the same time. Medvedev will face Germany’s Alexander Zverev later today in the final match of the group stage. Should Medvedev win that match, Nadal would win the group and face world number three Roger Federer of Switzerland in the semifinals, and Tsitsipas would finish second in the group and play against world number five Dominic Thiem of Austria. Should Zverev win that match, Tsitsipas would win the group and take on Federer, while Zverev would take second place and face Thiem in tomorrow’s semifinals.

by Andrew Stamas

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