By Richard Pagliaro | Tuesday, November 15, 2016
Dominic Thiem topped Gael Monfils, 6-3, 1-6, 6-4, to level his round-robin record at the ATP World Tour Finals.
Photo credit: Ashley Western/CameraSport
The O2 Arena's blue court and dramatic lighting provides a pristine stage for tennis turmoil.
As the youngest man in the World Tour Finals field, Dominic Thiem countered growing pains with timely strikes. Self-inflicted wounds from Gael Monfils helped Thiem close the show.
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In a match of both disjointed and dazzling play, Thiem exploited three double faults from Monfils in the final game navigating a 6-3, 1-6, 6-4 triumph.
Thiem's first WTF victory, which comes two days after a three-set loss to Novak Djokovic on Sunday, keeps the eighth-seeded Austrian alive in pursuit of a semifinal spot from the Ivan Lendl Group.
Four-time defending champion Djokovic defeated Milos Raonic, 7-6 (6), 7-6 (5), in today's second match, extending his career dominance of the Canadian to 8-0, including a 19-1 set record.
The second-seeded Serbian is the first man to qualify for the semifinals. The winner of Thursday's round-robin match between Raonic and Thiem will also advance to the semifinals from the Ivan Lendl group. Raonic beat Thiem, 6-3, 6-4, in their lone prior meeting in the Cincinnati quarterfinals last August.
A battle of first-time World Tour Finals qualifiers began with both men trying to shorten points dabbling with the serve-and-volley at times during the first six games.
The mystery of Monfils lies in his reticence to assert his offense and the tendency to drift into lapses of apparent apathy compounded by nagging real or imagined injury.
Reaching with his racquet instead of taking the short preparation steps to set his body on balance to the ball, Monfils sprayed forehands in a sloppy sixth game to gift Thiem the break.
The 23-year-old Thiem took the gift and ran with it. Powering through a love hold driving a forehand down the line, Thiem had won 11 of 13 points snatching a 5-2 lead.
Changing up his tactics and stepping into the court more frequently, Monfils serve-and-volleyed twice soaring for a smash he slid off the tape holding at 30 for 3-5.
Thiem can crack his heavy kick serve wide in both boxes creating space for his first strike. He did that effectively serving out a 26-minute set in which he won 17 of 19 first-serve points.
Flat-footed for stretches of the last game of the first set, Monfils seemed to struggle a bit covering wide balls on the edges. Still, the man who withdrew from the Paris Masters with a rib injury, worked through a tight hold to open the second set.
Emerging from a disengaged state, Monfils raced back to the baseline and spun for a stirring forehand pass down the line. That shot seemed to jump-start his energy and commitment as he broke at 30 on a Thiem forehand error for 2-0.
Two games later, Monfils drained more forehand errors from an erratic Thiem breaking again for 4-0.
Rushing through points and reintroducing the serve-and-volley, Monfils saved a couple of break points. Thiem rocketed a forehand pass crosscourt to convert his third break point and finally get on the board.
Shaking it off, Monfils, who was moving much more freely, hammered a forehand down the line for the third straight break. The man in green red-lined through a strong hold slashing his fifth ace to level the match after 52 minutes.
The sweeping swings that create Thiem's beautiful and powerful strokes require time to generate. Monfils did a good job denying Thiem of time jamming some body serves and jolting the wide serve to Thiem's one-handed backhand return.
A strong serve-and-volley he finished with a forehand volley helped Monfils hold at love for 3-all in the final set. Spending part of a changeover sitting cross-legged on the floor, Monfils was a man in motion while the ball was in play. He showed a quick first step for an improvised one-handed backhand pass down the line.
Thiem, who had butchered a few backhand volleys earlier, pulled off an exceptional twisting backhand half volley in the seventh game. He followed with a smash and his fourth ace taking a 4-3 lead after 76 minutes of play.
In the eighth game, Monfils sprayed shots teetering on a double break point ledge. He saved the second with another serve-and-volley then pounded a 136 mph ace. Monfils managed to fight off three break points holding.
Serving at 4-5, the jittery Frenchman coughed up a pair of double faults, thumped his eighth ace for 30-all then spit out his third double fault of the game for match point.
A Monfils backhand ended an 89-minute match that provided periods of throwback serve-and-volley, some pulsating shot-making and a strange service collapse finish.