Dominic Thiem Battles Past Karen Khachanov at China Open 2019

Number one seed Dominic Thiem survives in the semifinals of the 2019 China Open after losing the first set against Karen Khachanov defeating him 2-6, 7-6, 7-5 in 2 hours and 41 minutes on Saturday. With this victory, Thiem also qualifies for the ATP finals in London.

Set one

Karen Khachanov went off to a perfect start as he broke Dominic Thiem in his opening service game and held his serve to get a 3-0 lead in the first set. On the other hand, Dominic Thiem squandered two break point opportunities on the Russian’s first two service games respectively.

However, the Austrian was back on serve after breaking Khachanov at 2-3 but was once again broken in the next game with Khachanov showcasing some brilliant tennis.

While serving to stay in the set at 2-5, Dominic Thiem was broken for the 3rd time as he missed 3 game points to gift another game to Khachanov. The 23-year-old sealed the first set 6-2 after 43-minutes of play.

Set two

Both the players played some high-quality tennis, holding their opening two service games of the second set respectively. At 2-2, Dominic Thiem changed gears on Karen Khachanov’s serve as he sensed an opportunity and break his serve. However, the 26-year-old played a sloppy game as he was broken back at 3-3.

Karen Khachanov missed two break point opportunities in the next game before getting a break for the fifth time in the match. The Austrian, however, fought back hard and broke back to stay in the match and get back in serve at 4-5. The two players forced the set to go through the tiebreaker as they held their service games respectively till 6-6.

The two players exchanged a mini break in the first two points of the tiebreaker before Thiem controlled the breaker and claimed the second set 7-6(5).

Set three

Karen Khachanov stepped up in the deciding set as he saved a game point and broke Thiem in his first service game of the set. The Russian saved a break point in the next game and an ace helped him to seal the game. Dominic Thiem once again came back to the match as he broke Khachanov to get back on serve at 3-3 in the final set.

While serving to stay in the match at 4-5, khachanov lost two straight points and was just two points away to be defeated. However, the 23-year-old battled back to win four consecutive points and hold his serve. Thiem then went on to break Khachanov at 6-5 to win the final set 7-5.

He will face the winner between Alexander Zverev and Stefanos Tsitsipas for the title match of the Beijing Open 2019.