Thiem Beats Monfils To Stay Alive in London

November 15, 2016 | By New York Tennis Magazine Staff

Austria’s Dominic Thiem won his first career match at the ATP World Tour Finals on Tuesday, hanging on to beat Frenchman Gael Monfils 6-3, 1-6, 6-4 to improve to 1-1 in round-robin play in the Ivan Lendl Group at the O2 Arena in London.

“I had a good start today. I was trying to stay tough in the third set but at the end, of course, he helped me a little bit with the three double faults. But I’m very happy with the win,” said Thiem. “This tournament, the big crowd, gives me and probably all the players a lot of energy.”

After struggling in the second set for the second straight match, Thiem hung tough in the third set, and with Monfils serving to stay in the match at 5-4, Thiem was helped out by those three double faults he eluded to, breaking the Frenchman to secure his first career victory at the year-end finals.

The win improves the Austrian to 1-1 in London and keeps his semifinal hopes alive, ahead of his next contest against Milos Raonic. Monfils, now 0-2, is scheduled to play Novak Djokovic next, but said he will announce later today if he will withdraw from that match


New York Tennis Magazine Staff
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