By Tennis Now | Saturday, September 22, 2018
Dominic Thiem will play for his first hard-court title in two years when he faces 2012 champion Martin Klizan in the St. Petersburg final.
Photo credit: St. Petersburg Open/Formula_TX Facebook
Dominic Thiem leads the ATP Tour in wins this season, while Martin Klizan has never lost in St. Petersburg.
The pair will face off in tomorrow's St. Petersburg final.
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Thiem fired 15 aces and denied the only break point he faced dismissing Roberto Bautista Agut, 6-4, 6-3, to power into his hard-court final since the 2016 Metz.
It was Thiem's first victory in four meetings with the flat-hitting Spaniard.
"It was a close and tough match," Thiem said. "I think the key today was my serve. I was serving 15 aces and I had some situations in the match where it was very critical love-30 or break point down and I always saved myself with a great serve and I think that was the key today."
The top-seeded Thiem, who raised his 2018 record to an ATP-best 47-15, is playing for his first hard-court title since he won the 2016 Acapulco crown.
The Roland Garros finalist is also aiming to win his third title trophy of the year following triumphs in Buenos Aires and Lyon. Thiem is trying to win three or more ATP titles for the third time in the last four years.
The 29-year-old Klizan has won all three prior encounters with Thiem, with all three matches going the three-set distance.
"It would mean a lot to me if I could win my first indoor title because then I'd have [titles] on every surface, which would be amazing to me," Thiem said. "But Martin is a very tough opponent. I lost three times against him, close matches... So I really hope I can turn the tables tomorrow."
The left-handed Klizan continued his flawless St. Petersburg run, subduing Stan Wawrinka, 4-6, 6-3, 7-5, to reach his second St. Petersburg Open final.
Klizan cranked 10 aces, won 80 percent of his first-serve points and denied four of six break points, raising his St. Petersburg record to 9-0.
"This city is unbelievable, it's magic because of that," Klizan said. "I just love it here. It's a great crowd, great surface and I only can say that it's always great to be here."
The 2012 champion converted his lone break point in collecting the 40-minute second set.
In the decider, the pair were deadlocked at 5-all when the world No. 65 broke Wawrinka with a deft backhand drop volley. Klizan served out the two hour, 17-minute victory, his first in four meetings with the three-time Grand Slam champion.
"Stan is one of the best players in the world; we all know it," Klizan said. "He's a great competitor. I knew it was gonna be a very, very tough match. We played last two matches, the last match was three sets this year and before was five sets in Australia
"So I had a couple of chances, I didn't use it last time. This time, I used my chance and I finally beat him. So I'm very, very happy."
Klizan will try to extend his perfect record in Tour-level finals. Currently, Klizan is tied with Ernests Gulbis for most ATP finals without a loss (6-0 record).
"I hope it can be seven tomorrow," Klizan said. "I play every match like it doesn't matter if it's a final or a first-round, I try to play my game every match and I'm happy for that statistic and I hope it can be seven for seven."