Nitto ATP Finals round-round preview and prediction: Thiem vs. Tsitsipas

It will be a second consecutive Dominic Thiem vs. Stefanos Tsitsipas contest at the Nitto ATP Finals when they meet again on Sunday afternoon.

That’s right, the 2020 London opener will be a rematch of the 2019 final, which Tsitsipas survived 6-7(6), 6-2, 7-6(4). The Greek still trails the head-to-head series 4-3 (3-2 on hard courts), and they have not faced each other a single time since that thriller.

Their lack of 2020 encounters is due primarily to the coronavirus pandemic that axed five months of the ATP calendar. However, the hiatus did nothing to prevent each man from achieving plenty of success this year. Thiem returned from his break (which he spent by playing more than 20 exhibition matches) by capturing his first Grand Slam title at the U.S. Open. Tsitsipas reached the Cincinnati Masters semifinals, the Hamburg final, and the French Open semis.

Neither London participant, though, has been in particularly good form of late. Thiem has played in only one tournament since Roland Garros and struggled with a foot injury during a Vienna semifinal loss to an on-fire Andrey Rublev. Tsitsipas is just 1-2 since the French Open, with setbacks against Grigor Dimitrov in Vienna and Ugo Humbert in Paris. The 22-year-old has been dealing with a leg problem but hopes to be 100 percent for his year-end championship title defense.

Thiem played great last year in London, upsetting Novak Djokovic in round-robin competition and ultimately falling just short against Tsitsipas. The third-ranked Austrian has only made big strides on hard court over the past 12 months and looks poised for more success inside the O2.

With Tsitsipas just 6-4 in 10 hard-court matches since tennis returned (5-4 if you don’t count a retirement), Thiem should have a slight edge in his bid for London revenge.

Pick: Thiem in 3