Kevin Anderson beats Dominic Thiem to reach the final at the Mubadala Tennis World Championships - UBITENNIS

Kevin Anderson beats Dominic Thiem to reach the final at the Mubadala Tennis World Championships

By sampaolo
3 Min Read

This year’s US Open finalist Kevin Anderson beat Dominic Thiem 7-6 (8-6) 6-4 in the semifinal of the Mubadala World Tennis Championships to set up a final against Roberto Bautista Agut at the International Tennis Stadium at Zayed Sports City. Bautista Agut received a walkover to the final of the exhibition tournament after Novak Djokovic had to pull out of his semifinal match to allow him more rehabilitation from the elbow injury which forced him to miss the final six months of the 2017 season since Wimbledon.

Anderson, who won all his six head-to-head matches against Thiem on the ATP Tour, played a very solid match on his serve firing 15 aces.

Anderson and Thiem traded breaks in the first set, which came down to the tie-break. Both players went on serve in the first 13 points before Anderson clinched the tie-break by 8-6, as Thiem made a double fault.

Anderson earned an early break at the start of the second set to take charge of the match. The 31-year-old player saved a break point in the the second game. He went down 0-30 in the 8th game but managed to hold his serve.

On the advice of his medical team Novak Djokovic withdrew from the 10th edition of the Mubadala World Tennis Championships due to pain on his elbow. Spectators were treated to a one-set exhibition match between Roberto Bautista Agut and three-time Grand Slam champion and double Olympic gold medallist Andy Murray, who travelled to the United Arab Emirates to continue his preparation for Brisbane and the Australian Open. Bautista Agut broke twice to beat Murray 6-2 in a one-sided match.

“I am happy to play the final tomorrow, but I am sorry that Novak could not play. It was nice to see Andy back on the court”, said Roberto Bautista Agut.

Andrey Rublev claimed the fifth place after beating this year’s US Open semifinalist Pablo Carreno Busta 6-4 6-2 in the first match of the day.

The Mubadala Tournament will have a new champion after the first nine editions were won by just three players Andy Murray, Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal.

Leave a comment