BERLIN, July 18, 2020
Top seed Dominic Thiem and former World No. 2 Tommy Haas headlined Saturday’s men’s semi-final action of the bett1ACES tennis exhibition held inside Hangar 6 of Berlin’s former international airport Tempelhof. In a very first meeting between the two, the 26-year-old Austrian had to fight hard, needed to save two set points in the opening set to seal a 7-6(4), 6-3 victory.
In front of about 200 spectators, Thiem sent down nine aces, won 71 per cent of his first-service points and gained the decisive break in the fourth game of the second set to finish the encounter after one hour and 32 minutes.
He’ll see you soon Sinner. 😉@ThiemDomi defeats Haas 7-6, 6-3 to book his spot in the @bett1aces Final.#bett1aces pic.twitter.com/a5ojLmRgtx
— Tennis Channel (@TennisChannel) July 18, 2020
“I am pleased with my performance today. It was a great experience to play against one of my favourite players on the tour,” 42-year-old Haas said.
“We both really enjoyed the match. Is really a shame that we never played against each other on the tour. We both played seriously. It was a good match, a very tight first set,” Grunewald champion Thiem said. “If Tommy converts one of his set points, the match could have gone a different way.”
Thiem will take on Jannik Sinner in Sunday’s final. The Italian teenager edged past No. 2 seeded Spaniard Roberto Bautista Agut 7-6(5), 6-2 earlier in the day.
Petra Kvitova from the Czech Republic will face Anastasija Sevastova from Latvia. Kvitova rallied past Andrea Petkovic of Germany 3-6, 6-4 10-5.
“I was more patient in the second set but still aggressive on the court,” Kvitova told Markus Zoecke during her post-match on-court interview. “This helped me a lot.”
Sevastova took down top seed Elina Svitolina from the Ukraine 6-1, 6-1 in the final match of the day.
