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By Richard Pagliaro | Thursday, November 15, 2018

 
Dominic Thiem

Dominic Thiem crushed Kei Nishikori, 6-1, 6-4, keeping his slim London hopes alive and securing Kevin Anderson's semifinal spot in the ATP Finals.

Photo credit: Clive Brunskill/Getty Images

Calculation wasn't part of the pre-match curriculum for Dominic Thiem.

The assertive Austrian played major number cruncher anyway.

More: Zverev Calls For Shorter Season 

Pounding his forehand with authority, Thiem throttled Kei Nishikori, 6-1, 6-4, in his final round-robin match of the Nitto ATP Finals.

Winless in his prior two matches, Thiem kept his slim semifinal hopes alive and secured Kevin Anderson's semifinal spot at the O2 in London by knocking Nishikori out of the Lleyton Hewitt Group.




The 32-year-old Anderson, who is 2-0 in the Lleyton Hewitt Group, is the first South African to reach the final four in the tournament's 49-year history.

If Roger Federer, who swept Thiem, 6-2, 6-3, on Tuesday, takes a set from Anderson in their round-robin clash tonight then he will join the ATP Finals debutant in Saturday's semifinals.

Six-time champion Federer, who has won four of five meetings with the South African, needs only to win a set to reach his 15th semifinal in 16 appearances at the season-ending event.

Playing what may well be his final match of the season, Thiem was inspired to show fans his true identity.

"I didn't come into the match with too much pressure," Thiem told ESPN's Brad Gilbert afterward. "I just wanted to show to myself and to all the spectators the real Dominic Thiem because two days ago was a really bad performance for me. I didn't look at all the calculations, I just wanted to play a good match."

The weight of the 25-year-old Austrian's heavy forehand provoked forehand errors from the 2014 US Open finalist and nullified Nishikori's best weapon, the backhand down the line.

The world No. 8 denied all four break points he faced in a one hour, 25-minute triumph to raise his record to 54-20 on the season.

Weeks after Nishikori torched Thiem, 6-3, 6-1, on his home turf in Vienna, Thiem exacted a measure of revenge playing his first serve with more spin to set up his first strike.

"The first serve I took a little bit of pace off and gave a little bit more spin to the first serve," Thiem told Brad Gilbert. "He played way better in Vienna than he did here."

Thiem's mission was clear: win in straight sets to have any shot of advancing to the semifinals.

Successive double faults and a wild forehand put Nishikori in a break-point bind in his opening service game. Thiem dropped several feet back to receive a second serve, but shanked a backhand return.

On his second break point, Thiem won a crackling 16-shot exchange when Nishikori flew a forehand.

A flaky forehand cost Nishikori, who dropped 11 straight games in a 6-0, 6-1, beat-down from Kevin Anderson in his prior round-robin match.

Struggling to tame that wing, Nishikori stared at the strings of his Wilson racquet after a pair of forehand errors. Thiem backed-up the break for a 3-0 lead, while Nishikori, casting nervous glances toward coaches Dante Bottini and Michael Chang, tried to regroup after dropping 15 of his last 16 games.

Both men lifted their levels midway through the set. Thiem fended off a pair of break points in tense hold for 4-1.

Framing his forehand at times, Nishikori couldn't consistently find the center of the strings. Thiem persistently punished the Nishikori forehand and banged out a second break on a double fault.




A high backhand volley brought Thiem to set point and he pulverized a crosscourt forehand closing a dominant 41-minute opener.

The ninth-ranked Nishikori wound up and splattered his Wilson racquet off the blue court in frustration. He had cause for crankiness. Nishikori served just 43 percent and won only 5 of 17 points played on his second serve. Nishikori had managed just two games in his last three sets since dispatching Federer.




Despite all that, Nishikori soared for a spectacular high backhand volley holding to start the second.

Down break point in the fifth game, Nishikori hurtled toward net then hurled himself at the ball with three lunging rapid-fire volleys, that last into the open court.




Winning another jolting eye-to-eye net exchange, Nishikori rallied from love-30 down holding for 3-2.

It took that type of effort for Nishikori to stay in step with Thiem, who torched a backhand down the line breaking for 4-3.

A superb running forehand brought Thiem to match point and he fired his third ace to close his third career win at the Nitto ATP Finals.

Finishing with a 1-2 round-robin record, Thiem knows math does not support his slim shot of advancing but was pleased to end on a high note.

"Now of course I'm starting to calculate and I'm cheering for Kevin at night," Thiem said. "I also wanted to give myself the small chance I still had in this group. But way more important is that I played a good match and whatever happens tonight happens."

 

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