Thiem fights back from two sets down to claim US Open title

Flushing Meadows, United States, Sep 13 (efe-epa).- Second seeded Austrian tennis player Dominic Thiem staged a stunning fightback after being two sets down to defeat fifth seeded Alexander Zverev of Germany 2-6, 4-6, 6-4, 6-3, 7-6 to win the US Open on Sunday.

This was the first Grand Slam title for Thiem, 27, who played his fourth major final, the second in a row after the Australian Open in January, in which he lost to Serbian Novak Djokovic.

This time, despite being two sets down after losing the first two, Thiem once again outclassed Zverev, 23, whom he has now beaten in eight of the ten encounters they have had.

Thiem did not play his best tennis in the first two sets that were easily won by Zverev. His serve didn’t go well nor did his game from the bottom of the court. But everything changed from the fourth game of the third set when he broke his opponent for the second time to take the score to 2-2 and then went on to win the set in the 10th game.

The same thing happened in the ninth game of the fourth set, when Thiem broke Zverev to pull ahead 5-4 and served for the set forcing the match into a fifth deciding set.

Both tennis players held on to their serve until Thiem achieved the first break of the set to take the score to 6-5 before Zverev leveled to force a tiebreaker, which Thiem won to clinch the most important victory of his professional career.

The Austrian finished with 43 winners and 55 unforced errors compared to Zverev’s 52 and 64 respectively.

The German’s serve failed him this time as he finished with 15 aces and 13 double faults.

Zverev was the third German tennis player to reach a US Open final after Boris Becker did so in 1989, when he won the title, and Michael Stich in 1994, when he lost to Andre Agassi.

This was Zverev’s first US Open final in his six appearances at the tournament so far and also the first time he qualified for a major final. EFE-EPA

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