Thiem closes in on 16th career title with victory over Berrettini; Tsitsipas wins

Dominic Thiem staged a valiant fight-back as he inched closer to yet another career title with a 3-6, 7-5, 6-3 victory over Matteo Berrettini in the semi-finals at Vienna on Saturday.

Top seed Thiem will face either Gael Monfils or Diego Schwartzman in Sunday’s final after winning a tough match with his Italian opponent in front of an overjoyed home crowd.

He also avenged his quarter-final loss to Berrettiniin in Shanghai two weeks ago. However, despite the loss Berrettini will become only the fourth Italina to braek into top tean following his last four finish, which also boosted his hopes of booking a berth at the season-ending ATP finals.

Berrettini came out on top of an entertaining first set which saw both players share breaks of serve before the Italian held his in game eight to make it 5-3, then breaking Thiem again to seal the set.

The pair opened the second set by exchanging service games until Thiem snatched game five, when after fighting back from break point to deuce Berrettini hit two weak shots into the net to fall a break back.

Berrettini broke back in a tight game eight and comfortably took the lead on his serve in the next before Thiem levelled at 5-5 on his serve.

Meanwhile, Stefanos Tsitsipas defeated Filip Krajinovic a 3-6, 6-4, 6-4 to set up his fourth meeting with Roger Federer in the blockbuster semi-final showdown at the Swiss Indoors on Friday.

The Greek has already defeated nine-time Basel champion Federer at the Australian Open Federer and also got benefitted with a walkover in Rome. While the former world number one beat him in Dubai Open.

Top seed Federer was assured of a semi-final of berth on Thursday itself after his compatriot Stan Wawrinka had withdrawn from their last-eight clash due to a lower back injury just an hour after seeing off Frances Tiafoe in a hotly-contested second round clash. Tsitsipas rallied from behind in the second straight match to eke out a win after staging a gritty fight-back against qualifier Ricardas Berankis 24 hours earlier.

Elsewhere, in-form world number three Naomi Osaka believes she is better equipped to deal with the WTA Finals’ demanding round-robin format, after her maiden appearance at the season-ending showpiece ended in tears.

There was much attention on the Japanese sensation entering last year’s WTA Finals on the back of a controversial US Open victory over Serena Williams.

But Osaka failed to live up to the hype in a winless campaign that ended in tears when she was forced to retire against Kiki Bertens due to a hamstring injury.

Having learned the lessons from that bitter experience, Osaka said she knew what to expect in the $14 million tournament pitting the eight best ranked players of 2019.

The lucrative WTA Finals has moved to the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen for the next 10 years after a five-year run in Singapore.

“I definitely think last year helped me in the way that I kind of know the format more,” Osaka told reporters on Saturday.

“Before last year, I hadn’t played round-robin since I was, like, eight or ten.

“I think the end of last year was just so hectic for me. Honestly, by the time I got to the (WTA Finals), I was just so tired,” Osaka added.

She will be one of the favourites in Shenzhen having claimed successive titles in Osaka and Beijing.

It has been a return to form for the 22-year-old after a stunning first round exit at Wimbledon followed by a lacklustre US Open title defence ended with a round of 16 defeat to Belinda Bencic, who she will face in Shenzhen.

Agencies