The Greek only 21 years old will fight for the precious trophy with the Austrian Dominic Thiem, 26 years old, on Sunday, from 8 pm, Romania time. The match will be broadcast by Sport 1.
The two met last month in a final, the China Open, won by the Austrian. The Greek now has the opportunity to take revenge. The Austrian leads in the direct meetings with 4-2.
If Tsitsipas wins the trophy, at the age of 21 he will be the youngest champion in the last 18 years. In 2001, Lleyton Hewitt won the competition at the age of 20. But the Greek would become the sixth youngest champion in the tournament’s 50-year history. The record is owned by John McEnroe, who in 1978 lifted the trophy over his head at only 19 years old. But all five of the youngest winners of the Champions Tournament reached No.1 ATP.
As for Dominic Thiem, he is the first Austrian to reach this stage of the competition. He will try to win the trophy the same year he won his first ATP Masters 1000 (Indian Wells) title.
Austrian Dominic Thiem, the 5th world champion, defeated German Alexander Zverev, the trophy holder and 7th place ATP on Saturday, and qualified for the Champions Tournament. Thiem prevailed with a score of 7-5, 6-3, after a match that lasted one hour and 34 minutes.
In the other game semifinal, the young Stefanos Tsitsipas (6 ATP) defeated “veteran” Roger Federer (3 ATP) on Saturday, with a score of 6-3, 6-4, in the semifinal of the Champions Tournament.
At the start of the first set, Tsitsipas managed a break ball in front of Roger Federer. The Greek player took advantage of this early advantage and won the first set of the match with 6-3. In the second set, at the 1-1 score in the games, Federer had a lost service. The Swiss recovered a break in front of Tsitsipas. Equality didn’t last long, the Greek getting a break ball in front of Federer again, reports Mediafax news agency. To win the match against Roger Federer, it took Tsitsipas about an hour and 35 minutes.
Thiem, Tsitsipas and Zverev are representatives of the young generation of world tennis, while Roger Federer, 38, was the only “veteran” left in the London aces after Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal were eliminated groups.