Friends and rivals and prospective Grand Slam winners Alexander Zverev and Dominic Thiem meet in the final of the 2020 US Open on Sunday, September 13. The match timing will be decided soon. Get the live streaming options of this Alexander Zverev v Dominic Thiem match along with its preview, head to head, and tips here.
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Alexander Zverev v Dominic Thiem Head to Head
Thiem leads the head-to-head 7-2, having won the last three meetings between the two players.
This will be their fourth meeting in a Grand Slam, having met twice at the French Open, in 2016 and 2018, and more recently meeting in the Australian Open semi-finals earlier this year. Thiem has won all their meetings in majors thus far. Zverev’s wins came on the hard courts of Beijing in 2016 and at the Madrid Masters 1000 final in 2018, on clay.
Also Read:
Scratchy Zverev Completes Comeback to Make Final
Number five seed Alexander Zverev was billed to be the leader of the pack coined as the ‘Next Gen’ , earmarked to take the mantle from the ‘Big Three’.
Winning three Masters 1000 ATP titles over 2017 and 2018 evidenced reason to believe that would be the case. But a host of on and off court issues led to a decline in Zverev’s form in 2019, and it looked the likes of Stefanos Tsitsipas orDaniil Medvedev were destined for Grand Slam glory sooner than Zverev.
The German has, however, managed to string some consistent form together, being a semi-finalist at the ATP Tour Finals at the O2 arena in London last year, being an Australian Open semi-finalist and now the first German to make the US Open men’s final since Michael Stich lost to Andre Agassi in 1994.
The German had a tough opener against 2017 US Open runner-up South African Kevin Anderson, which went to four sets. Although the next few rounds were expected to be clinical, both Brandon Nakashima and Adrian Mannarino took a set off Zverev, and the number five seed ran into issues with his serve yet again. In the round of 16, Zverev did well to prevail in straight sets against little known Spaniard Alejandro Davidovich Fokina.
Novak Djokovic’s untimely exit in the fourth round made Zverev the favorite to emerge in the finals from the top half of the draw, but the encounters in the quarters and semis were not to be easy for the German.
The fifth seed came into his quarter-final encounter against Croat Borna Coric with a trailing head-to-head and was off to a scrappy start down a set and 2-4 in the second. However, Zverev hung in and went back to the basics and prevailed in four sets, with the second and third going to a tie-break.
Coming in as a strong favorite in the semi-final against Spanish veteran Pablo Carreno Busta, Zverev looked in all sorts of trouble down two sets to love in a little more than an hour, but came back strongly to prevail in five sets and secure a birth in his first ever major final. Zverev will be looking to live up to his billing and be the first of his generation to win a grand slam title.
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Crushing Semi-Final Victory For Thiem
Number two seed Dominic Thiem has had a career full of promise, and good results, but as a result of the presence of the Big Three, he does not quite have the big tournaments under his belt the way he should by now. The Austrian holds an enviable 7-3 head-to-head against Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, and Novak Djokovic over the last 18 months and now inches closer to another shot at a Grand Slam title, here in New York.
Having lost two French Open finals to the ‘King of Clay’ Rafael Nadal, Thiem lost the Australian Open final earlier this year to Novak Djokovic, and returned to the tour after the pandemic hiatus, at the Western & Southern Open, with a shock opening round loss to Filip Krajinovic.
The number two seed started a little rusty here at the US Open, but got stronger with every round. His clinical display over the first two sets against 2014 US Open winner Marin Cilic and the last two sets against Felix Auger-Aliassime in the third and fourth round respectively brought back a world of confidence.
In his second US Open quarter-final, Thiem was drawn against Next Gen Aussie Alex de Minaur, and although the scoreline suggested a convincing win for the Austrian, he had interspersed moments of brilliance and scratchy play.
In the final four, the Austrian number two seed faced 2019 US Open runner-up Daniil Medvedev, in what was looked upon as potentially the match-up of the tournament. The match lived up to its expectations and although Thiem prevailed in straight sets, it had the ebbs and flows and intense shot-making of a Grand Slam semi-final. Medvedev was serving for the second and third sets at 5-3 each time and strong comebacks by Thiem on both occassions stopped the Russia from tilting the momentum in his favor.
The Austrian is in his fourth major final and first ever US Open semi-final against friend and rival Zverev and will be looking to soon end the tag of being the “Best Player Never To Win a Major”.
Zverev v Thiem Prediction & Tip
Among the players referred to as potential Grand Slam winners outside of the Big Three, the names of Thiem and Zverev have probably come up the most. It is fitting that one of them will be the first to scalp the title. With contrasting playing styles, this makes for a good match-up and an exciting final prospect.
Although Thiem leads the head-to-head 7-2, their last few encounters notably the Aussie Open semi-finals earlier this year, and the year end ATP semi-finals in 2019, could have gone either way. How well Zverev serves on Sunday will be instrumental in determining the winner.
Thiem has looked in ominous form and will start as the favorite, and Zverev will most definitely need to avoid the scratchy serving form of recent rounds. The German will not be able to make the monumental comeback against Thiem that he did against Coric and Carreno Busta if he falls behind early on.
Expect a match with some nerves at both ends, and whoever manages the pressure better will prevail; Thiem to deservedly win his first major title.
Tip: Thiem to win: 2/7 (bet365)
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The US Open 2020 will be played from August 31 to September 13. You can watch & bet on the US Open here. Get your latest premium tennis predictions here.
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