LONDON, November 16, 2017

Dominic Thiem gained his first win of the week at the Nitto ATP Finals beating Spaniard Pablo Carreno Busta, who is replacing countryman Rafael Nadal, 6-3, 3-6, 6-4 at The O2 on Wednesday.

Thiem struck 12 aces, winning 90 per cent of his first service points to prevail after two hours and six minutes.

“I’m very happy and pleased that I get the chance to play for the semi-finals on Friday,” said Thiem, who will now play David Goffin for a place in the final four.

“We had some big, important matches in the past, also in the deep rounds of Slams. This one’s going to be another one. We know each other very well. He played a very good match here, one very bad match. I don’t know what to expect. I’m hoping that it’s going to be a tough match, and I’m trying everything to go through to the semis.”

Dimitrov Thrashes Goffin To Reach Semis

Earlier in the day, Grigor Dimitrov booked his place in the semi-finals with an impressive 6-0, 6-2 win over David Goffin. The first ever Bulgarian to qualify for the ATP season finale in the 48-year history of the tournament saved the only break point he faced, converting five of his own to advance in one hour and 13 minutes.

“You have days like that. I work for those days. It’s very nice when they come on such an occasion,” Dimitrov said. “I’m very humbled to win that match because I just wanted to come out and compete today.”

Dimitrov won Group Pete Sampras and will face the second-place finisher of Group Boris Becker on Saturday.