Goodbye for now
And as Dominic Thiem wins the opening match of Group London 2020, this is Jakub Bobro from VAVEL saying thank you for joining us and make sure to catch the LIVE commentary of Nadal vs Rublev by my colleague John Lupo later tonight!
Post-match comments
Thiem wrote, "Play For The Ocean" on the camera lens after the win, spreading the message of the fight against the climate crisis.
Thiem on the ATP Finals: "You cannot have a slow start in the matches here against Top 10 players."
On the game at 3-1 in the third set: "That was crazy, I was pretty tight and I missed five or six matches to finish that game, but it was the final moment to go my direction."
On the bubble: "The bubble life is exhausting in a way and very new for all of us. I'm very grateful as are all the other players that these events are still happening."
Thiem wins the match 7-6(5) 4-6 6-3!
Solid serving earned Thiem three match points of which he took the second, defeating Stefanos Tsitsipas after two hours and 17 minutes. The No. 3 seed gets his revenge from last year's final, finding a new level in the third set which combined with Tsitsipas' serving drop off in that set to give him the match. The Austrian is now 6-2 in third set matches this year.
Thiem* 7-6(5) 4-6 5-3 Tsitsipas
Tsitsipas served his first double fault that took him to 30-30 but after a forehand stop volley winner and a forehand error from Thiem, the Austrian will be serving for the match.
Thiem 7-6(5) 4-6 5-2 *Tsitsipas
Though his service game was solid, Tsitsipas was not able to put up a strong fight on Thiem's serve and will have to serve to stay in the match.
Thiem* 7-6(5) 4-6 4-2 Tsitsipas
The long and difficult game did not break Tsitsipas and he held again.
Thiem 7-6(5) 4-6 4-1 *Tsitsipas
Tsitsipas got a break point at 30-40 after a backhand error from Thiem, but the game went to deuce after a long rally that ended with his backhand down the line hit the net. Tsitsipas roared in frustration in a point that we might look back on once the match is over and consider it key. Thiem got an advantage but did not take it, causing him to shout out as well. Thiem served two aces from the deuce side to set up advantages, missing the backhand on both. He set up another one with an overhead but his backhand let him down again. Ace No. 8 gave him the sixth game point which he finally converted after Tsitsipas' return sailed long. Thiem holds in the most emotional game of the match, lasting over 10 minutes.
Thiem* 7-6(5) 4-6 3-1 Tsitsipas
Tsitsipas gets on the board in the third set with a strong service game, holding to love, but he will need to come up with something special to break Thiem with his form in the third set.
Thiem 7-6(5) 4-6 3-0 *Tsitsipas
Thiem holds to love to confirm the break, finishing the game off with an ace. Tsitsipas is yet to hit a winner in the third while Thiem is beginning to run away with it.
Thiem* 7-6(5) 4-6 2-0 Tsitsipas
Thiem breaks with a drop shot winner early in the second here. There was clearly some nerves from Tsitsipas as he only got one first serve in and shanked a forehand. The Greek will now have it tough in the deciding set.
Thiem 7-6(5) 4-6 1-0 *Tsitsipas
Thiem began the third set on serve in a very different fashion than he did the second, strong serving and even finishing the game with an ace.
Tsitsipas takes the second set 6-4!
Tsitsipas takes the second set after a return error from Thiem. The Greek took advantage of Thiem's poor serving early in the second, stayed solid on his serve and backhand, and we are going to a third set!
Thiem 7-6(5) 4-5 *Tsitsipas
Thiem resisted the pressure once again with a solid hold and now the Greek will be the one feeling it, serving out the second set.
Thiem* 7-6(5) 3-5 Tsitsipas
Tsitsipas holds to love after an overhead smash and Thiem will serve to stay in the second set.
Thiem 7-6(5) 3-4 *Tsitsipas
Thiem holds with ease, strong on his serve now after the two shaky service games from him to start the second set. This means that this match will not mirror the score of their last year's meeting in the final of this tournament.
Thiem* 7-6(5) 2-4 Tsitsipas
Tsitsipas continues to hold solid on serve in the second set and keeps his one-break advantage.
Thiem 7-6(5) 2-3 *Tsitsipas
Thiem did not let the break affect him and held easily.
Thiem* 7-6(5) 1-3 Tsitsipas
Tsitsipas went under a bit of pressure at 15-30, serving to confirm the break. The game went to deuce and Tsitsipas held.
Thiem 7-6(5) 1-2 *Tsitsipas
Tsitsipas got two break points on Thiem's serve at 15-40 which he has struggled a bit with early in the second set. Thiem saved the first, but Tsitsipas got the break with a lovely forehand passing shot.
Thiem* 7-6(5) 1-1 Tsitsipas
Tsitsipas holds after a solid game.
Thiem 7-6(5) 1-0 *Tsitsipas
Thiem served first in the second set but found himself under pressure as he went down 0-30. The Austrian turned it around and got to 40-30 with the help of two backhand errors from Tsitsipas. The game went to deuce, but Thiem won it with an unreturned serve on his first advantage.
Dominic Thiem wins the first set 7-6(5)
Just like in last year's final, Thiem takes the first set tiebreak, but the Austrian will be hoping for a different final result here. Thiem won the tiebreaker 7-5 and the first set after 56 minutes.
Thiem 6-6 Tsitsipas (2-4)
Tsitsipas leads 4-2 at the first change of ends in this tiebreak. Could have gone 5-1 up but his return did not make it past the net.
Thiem 6-6 Tsitsipas
Thiem holds and just like in their meeting in last year's final, the first set goes to a tiebreak.
Thiem* 5-6 Tsitsipas
Tsitsipas leaned on his serve again and held to love, finishing the game with his fourth ace of the match. Thiem will serve to stay in the first set again.
Thiem 5-5 *Tsitsipas
Thiem did not feel the pressure at all and held to love to take it to 5-5.
Thiem* 4-5 Tsitsipas
Tsitsipas responded with an impressive hold of his own, making Thiem serve to stay in the first set.
Thiem 4-4 *Tsitsipas
Thiem threw the two missed break point opportunities behind him and held to love.
Thiem* 3-4 Tsitsipas
The Tilden game brought us drama as Thiem was given two break points at 15-40 after a wide backhand volley from Tsitsipas. The Greek responded with two quick serve and volley points and took it to deuce. Tsitsipas won the next two points as well and finished the game off with a backhand cross winner.
Thiem 3-3 *Tsitsipas
Thiem holds again and we head into the Tilden game in the first set with only one breakpoint in the match so far.
Thiem* 2-3 Tsitsipas
Tsitsipas holds to love with a mixture of strong first serves and the ability to hang with Thiem in longer rallies.
Thiem 2-2 *Tsitsipas
Thiem went up 30-0 on his serve before serving the first double fault of the match. This game also went to deuce, but Thiem won the game, finishing it off with an ace. After 20 minutes, the score is 2-2.
Thiem* 1-2 Tsitsipas
We get the first deuce game of the match early here, but Tsitsipas kept his first serve percentage high and finished the last two points off at the net of the three-deuce game
Thiem 1-1 *Tsitsipas
Thiem responds with a solid hold of his own to tie the first set up at 1-1, exploiting Tsitsipas' backhand.
Thiem* 0-1 Tsitsipas
Dominic Thiem wins the opening point of the match on Tsitsipas' serve, but the Greek wins the next four points to take the opening game.
Players walk on court!
Dominic Thiem and Stefanos Tsitsipas are now warming up on the court and the match will commence shortly.
ATP No. 1
In a ceremony to celebrate the year-end World No. 1 on the ATP Tour, Novak Djokovic lifts the trophy for the sixth time, tying the record of Pete Sampras.
Doubles result
Wesley Koolhof and Nikola Mektic win the opening doubles match of the Finals 6-7(3) 7-6(4) 10-7 after two hours and three minutes, a successful ATP Finals debut for Koolhof.
Starting soon!
The opening singles match of the Nitto ATP Finals, Dominic Thiem vs Stefanos Tsitsipas is due to start at 2pm local time, however, the doubles match is currently heading into a second set tiebreaker, so expect a slight delay.
When to watch Thiem vs Tsitsipas Live
The opening singles match of the 2020 Nitto ATP Finals between Dominic Thiem and Stefanos Tsitsipas will begin at 2pm local time, 9am ET, and 6am PT.
Venue
The O2 Arena in London is hosting the ATP Finals for the final time this year, unfortunately with no fans attending due to COVID-19, though the arena usually holds 20,000. The O2 has been an ATP Finals stalwart, hosting the event since 2009. The event will move to Turin next year, where it will stay for the next five years.
Tsitsipas' ranking impact
Stefanos Tsitsipas won the ATP Finals last year, but he did lose a match in the round-robin match, meaning that he could gain 200 points if he went undefeated this time. This would help him get closer to No. 5 Roger Federer, who is not playing the Finals this year due to injury, making the difference 505 points.
Thiem's ranking impact
Thiem, as any other player in this field, can only gain points. After a final run with one round-robin loss last year, he earned 800 points. As an undefeated champion this year, he could gain 700 points which would close the gap to Nadal at the No. 2 spot to just 25 points.
Head to head
Dominic Thiem leads the head to head 4-3, beating Tsitsipas in the 2018 Doha quarterfinals, 2018 Indian Wells round of 64, 2018 French Open round of 64, and the 2019 Beijing final. Tsitsipas, however, won their most recent and relevant meeting in the final of the ATP Finals last year as well as the 2018 Barcelona quarterfinals and 2018 Toronto round of 32.
Group London 2020
The group names this year (Tokyo 1970 and London 2020) celebrate the 50th anniversary of the ATP Finals. Stefanos Tsitsipas and Dominic Thiem are in Group London 2020, joined by Rafael Nadal and Andrey Rublev. In the unfortunate case of withdrawal, alternates Matteo Berrettini and Denis Shapovalov will be filling in.
Tsitsipas' current form
The defending champion Stefanos Tsitsipas is not coming into this tournament with the best form, though he will get to keep his ranking points either way due to the pandemic. The Greek lost out in the second round in Vienna to Dimitrov and followed it up with an opening-round loss to Ugo Humbert in Paris-Bercy.
Thiem's current form
Since winning his first grand slam at the US Open, Thiem hasn't had the best form, losing out to Diego Schwartzman in the quarterfinals of French Open. In his last tournament, Thiem defeated Sachko and Garin before losing to Andrey Rublev in his home tournament in Vienna,
Welcome!
Hello and welcome to today's coverage of the opening round robin 2020 Nitto ATP Finals in London between the No. 3 seed Dominic Thiem and No. 6 Stefanos Tsitsipas. My name is Jakub Bobro and I will be your host for this Finals' opener!