US Open winner & Group London 2020 winner Dominic Thiem of Austria plays London debutante Andrey Rublev of Russia in their final group stage match of the 2020 ATP finals at the O2 arena in London. The match is scheduled for Thursday, November 19th and will begin at 2 pm local time (9am Eastern Time). Get the live streaming options of this Dominic Thiem v Andrey Rublev match along with its preview, head to head, and tips here.
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Dominic Thiem v Andrey Rublev Head to Head
This will be the fifth encounter between both players. The head-to-head is tied at 2-2. Rublev has won their last two meetings, including most recently in Vienna where he defeated Thiem in straight sets on his way to his fifth title of the year.
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Impressive Thiem Hoping To Carry Momentum Into Semi-Finals
The 2019 ATP Tour Finals runner-up Dominic Thiem has got off to another strong start at the tournament, with back-to-back wins against Stefanos Tsitsipas and Rafael Nadal in his first two matches.
Given that Nadal & Tsitsipas both have a 1-1 record with wins against Andrey Rublev each respectively, that leaves Thiem as the winner of Group London 2020, with a 2-0 record and winning any tie-breaker against either Nadal or Tsitsipas given the better head-to-head this week.
After a three set win against Tsitsipas in the opener, Thiem faced 20-time Grand Slam winner Rafa Nadal in what many billed as the being the best match of the group. The players did not disappoint and the quality of tennis was of the highest level.
Both players were off to a quick aggressive start, not giving much room to the other on their individual service games. Nadal continued his aggressive serve and return style from the opener on Sunday and the first set was headed for a tiebreak.
Nadal was off to the better start in the breaker, up 5-2 and looking like running away with it, before Thiem clawed his way back to level it at 5-5. A double fault by Thiem proved costly as Nadal now had set point on his serve at 6-5 in the tiebreak. But, a mix of confident strokeplay by Thiem and atypical errors by Nadal saw Thiem close the tiebreak 9-7 with an inside out forehand winner from the ad court on set point.
Both players held serve fairly comfortably in the second set with Nadal pressuring the Thiem serve a little more, until the Spaniard finally broke at 3-3 for a 4-3 lead. Thiem immediately put the brakes on the Nadal serve to get two break points in the next game and broke on the second to level the set at 4-4.
Serving to stay in the match at 4-5 in the set, Nadal was down 0-40 giving Thiem three match points, but clutch serving by Nadal saw him win five points in a row to level the set at 5-5, as another tiebreak was looming. Nadal got the first mini-break of the tiebreak, but Thiem won it back immediately and at 3-3, Thiem hit three winners for three more match points. On the fifth match point that he faced, Nadal hit a backhand crosscourt wide.
Thiem won his fifth consecutive tiebreak against Nadal, and has now defeated Federer, Djokovic, and Nadal on this court over the course of 2019 and 2020. Having topped the group, Thiem will hope to maintain the momentum in his last group stage match, before heading to the weekend with his eyes on the title.
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Unlucky Rublev Looking For Maiden London Win
Andrey Rublev has had a phenomenal 2020 winning five tournaments this year (more than anyone on the tour) already on hard courts, clay and indoors, at Doha, Adelaide, Hamburg, St.Petersburg and Vienna.
Rublev looked a favorite for the Paris Masters 1000 as well, but lost a hard fought battle to veteran Swiss Stan Wawrinka. His first appearance here at the tour Finals did not get off to the best of starts, where he started his campaign against the twenty time major winner and world number two Rafa Nadal.
Nadal looked in strong touch from the very beginning and a break of serve in each set was enough to get Nadal off to a winning start, attributing some to Nadal’s immense experience and versatility and some to the fact that it was Rublev’s first time on this big stage.
Rublev and Tsitsipas met for the third time in less than two months ( tied 1-1 this year), with both realizing the importance of a win here to stay alive in the tournament and in turn solidifying one’s chances of making the final four this weekend. Tsitsipas was quick off the blocks, and Rublev was just the opposite as the Greek won the first set in just 19 minutes, 6-1.
The door was looking nearly closed on Rublev’s chances at the tournament, but the Russian hung in and began to serve well and attack the Tsitsipas serve whenever possible. At 4-5 on serve in the second set, a sloppy service game by Tsitsipas followed, resulting in Rublev clinching the set and the players headed for a decider.
Both players outdid each other in the final set with some service games being easy and some not for both. At 5-6 on serve in the third, Tsitsipas put up a gutsy serving performance to ensure the set headed for the breaker.
The Greek started strong, and was up 5-2, but Rublev went on a run winning the next four points, and was up 6-5 on his serve with match point, when he double faulted and let Tsitsipas equaliize the breaker at 6-6. Strong play followed by Tsitsipas who clinched the set 8-6 in the tiebreaker and in turn eliminated Rublev from the tournament.
Although the Thiem-Rublev encounter is now one of academic interest only, the Russian will be hoping to record his first win at the tournament, and Thiem will look to maintain the unbeaten record here this week thus far.
Thiem v Rublev Prediction and Tip
Both players are at different stages of the tournament coming into this match, with Thiem already a semi-finalist and Rublev eliminated from the tournament. However, Thiem will look to erase the last two losses against Rublev and go into the final tennis weekend of the year undefeated, where as Rublev will like a ‘W’ next to his Win/ Loss record for the week.
A good match ahead of us; expect the in-form Thiem to prevail in two well fought sets.
Tip: Thiem to win in straight sets: 13/8 (bet365)
The 2020 ATP Finals will be played from November 15 to November 22. You can watch & bet on the ATP Finals here. Get your latest premium tennis predictions here.
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