Federer snuffed out by Tsitsipas as next-gen repel big three threat

Stefanos Tsitsipas will face Dominic Thiem in the ATP Tour Finals in London after the Greek ended Roger Federer’s hopes of a seventh year-end title.

The so-called next-gen players haven’t found a way to dethrone the big three of Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic in Grand Slams but have held sway in the tour finals for the last three years.

Thiem’s dreams come true

Thiem ended Alexander Zverev’s hopes of successive year-end titles with a 7-5, 6-3 straight sets win at the O2 Arena in London.

The Austrian is playing in his fourth Tour finals but had never progressed beyond the round-robin phase before this year.

“This is a big, big dream coming true for me, it is one of the biggest and most prestigious tournaments of the whole year and I’m getting the chance to play the final,” said Thiem. 

The 2019 Roland Garros finalist is seen as a clay-court specialist but his recent hard-court successes have turned him into a “big, big fan of faster hard surfaces”.

Federer flops

Tsitsipas faced a Federer unrecognisable from the player who dominated Djokovic in his final round-robin match. The Swiss master struggled on serve and hit a total of 26 unforced errors against five against the Serbian.

Tsitsipas needed a lot of grit to save 11 out of 12 breakpoints during the match.

“I’m so proud of myself today, a great performance and once again the people were great,” the Greek number one said.

“I really enjoyed myself on the court and sometimes in matches like these you wonder how you recover from difficulties and break point down.”

Tsitsipas broke Federer at his first attempt, taking advantage of two missed overheads. He was forced to dig deep in the dramatic 13-minute final game of the first set. Tsitsipas saved two break points and needed seven set points to close it out 6-3.

It was Federer who started slower in the second set when Tsitsipas broke him to love in the third game of the second set, but he finally coverted a breakpoint to level the set at 2-2.

Tsitsipas began dominating rallies from the back of the court and would break again immediately sealing the fifth game with a forehand cross-court winner for a 3-2 lead.

At 5-4 down Federer had to break Tsitsipas. 

The Greek found himself 15-40 down, but an unusually wasteful Federer could not take advantage, spraying a forehand out to give his opponent a match point. Tsistsipas sealed Federer’s fate with a thundering ace.

“I’m frustrated I couldn’t play better, and when I did and fought my way back, I threw it away again,” said the Swiss.

“It was also parts of him. He did come up with the goods when he had to and he was better than me today.”