Stefanos Tsitsipas beat Dominic Thiem 6-7 (6-8), 6-2, 7-6 (7-4) to become the youngest ever champion at the ATP Tour Finals in London.
Thiem won the first set on a close tie-break, and was first to serve in the second. But 21 year-old Tsitsipas saw an opportunity and took it as he broke serve. The Greek then gained momentum, holding serve and breaking Thiem again, before serving for the set at 5-2 and leveling the match.
A long opening game in the deciding third set saw Thiem hold on, before Tsitsipas fired through his own service game and broke the Austrian straight after.
But Thiem broke back to level the score at 3-3, and both players stayed on serve to reach the tiebreak that saw Tsitsipas clinch the title.
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Both players had never reached the final before, this year marking Tsitsipas’ debut at the tournament, who is also the youngest finalist since 2009.
The Greek saw off Roger Federer in the semi-final, while Thiem made it passed last year’s champion Alexander Zverev to make it to his first final at the O2 Arena.
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Rafael Nadal ends the season as world number one despite failing to reach the last four, making him the oldest player to do so aged 33.
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This year also marked the penultimate time the season-ending tournament will be staged in London, as it was announced earlier in the year that it will move to the Pala Alpitour stadium in Turin, Italy after 12 years in the UK.
But despite the tournament marking the end of the tennis season, the action isn’t over yet, with the Davis Cup finals taking place in Madrid next week.
Six groups of three teams will compete in a round-robin, before the winners in each group and two second-place teams battle it out in the knockout stages, with the final on Sunday 24th November.
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Great Britain’s team, captained by Leon Smith, includes former world number one Andy Murray after he won his first title in over two years in October. Dan Evans and Kyle Edmund were also named, alongside double’s partners Jamie Murray and Neal Skupski.
Words: Alysia Georgiades | Featured image: Photo by Claus Grünstäudl on Unsplash