VIENNA, October 20, 2016
The World No.2 Andy Murray has been drawn to face the 2001 Wimbledon champion Goran Ivanisevic and unlikely Wimbledon hero Marcus Willis in the round-robin stages of Tie Break Tens, which takes place in Vienna on Sunday night.
World No.10 Dominic Thiem, the 2008 Australian Open runner-up Jo Wilfried Tsonga and former World No.2 Tommy Haas will contest the other group.
The top two players in each group will advance to the semifinals. The winner of the final will receive a winner-takes-all cheque for $250,000. Each match will take the form of a quick-fire, first-to-10 point tie-break (with a margin of two points).Willis, the World No.498 who won six matches to qualify for the Wimbledon main draw, will be taking on a childhood hero in Ivanisevic, and arguably the best player in the world at the moment in Murray. He still thinks he can win.
Dominic Thiem (photo: e-motion/Bildagentur Zolles KG/Christian Hofer
“Could I beat Andy Murray in a ten-point tie-break? Probably,” said Willis. “It’s ten points. Accrington Stanley would lose to Manchester United over 90 minutes, but in a 10-minute match they would stand a chance. I think it will suit my game. It’s exciting, it’s a sprint, and the crowd are going to be into it. I’m lucky to have been given this opportunity and I’m going to get in there.”
Tie Break Tens Vienna will take place at 7pm CET on Sunday (6pm UK, 1pm EST). It will be televised live on ORF in Austria, and Sky Sports 4 in the UK.
