Dominic Thiem won his first match of the ATP Finals after beating Kei Nishikori 6-1 6-4 to keep his slim semi-final hopes alive.
The Austrian was too good for Nishikori as his confidence-boosting victory means that Kevin Anderson has qualified for the last four in London.
Anderson has become the first African man in history to reach the semi-finals at the ATP Finals as he plays Roger Federer in the evening.
As for Nishikori he is now out of contention for the last four, with Federer only needing a set to qualify for the semi-finals.
The Roland Garros finalist started the match the quicker as he looked to somehow give himself a chance of reaching the semi-finals.
Some clean striking on the backhand side saw Thiem win the opening three games as he blew Nishikori off the court. The quick start meant it was good news for Kevin Anderson who had secured his place in the semi-finals as a result due to s a superior game percentage.
The Japanese star had only won one game in his last match against Kevin Anderson and struggled to get more games on the board today.
After Nishikori got his first game of the match, Thiem did well to neutralise the momentum coming from the other side of the net with good variety.
Surviving an 8 and a half minute game helped the Austrian’s cause as he raced to a 4-1 lead as he appeared to have cruise control of the match.
The unforced errors continued to show for Nishikori as he lost another break and eventually the set in 42 minutes. The Japanese star smashed his Wilson racket in anger and frustration.
That frustration seemed to help Nishikori as the second set was much better from him as he moved the Thiem around the court with some good angles.
The 28 year old seemed to hang with the grand slam finalist for half of the second set but the Austrian’s power would eventually prevail.
A crucial break in the seventh game was the key difference as he made the most of Nishikori’s erratic tactics, especially coming to the net.
So a comfortable final game hold saw Thiem close out the match and seal a much needed straight sets win to keep his semi-final hopes alive.
After the match Thiem was delighted at winning a match at the ATP Finals, “I’m very happy of course because I didn’t really do good in my match two days ago,” Thiem said.
“So I wanted to play better today and that is what I did. Whatever happens tonight, it’s nice to get a win this week. I wanted to show my real self and it was way better.”
The result means that Kei Nishikori is the first player out of the ATP Finals and that Roger Federer just needs a set in his match with Kevin Anderson to qualify for the semi-finals.
Should the Swiss win the match against the South African, then he will qualify as group winner alongside Anderson, who would finish in second place.
