Thiem wins Croatia Open beating Sousa

Fourth-seeded Thiem upset top-seeded Gael Monfils, 1-6, 6-3, 6-1, and Sousa knocked out second-seeded Roberto Bautista Agut, 4-6, 6-2, 6-3. It is the second ATP final of the season for Thiem, who captured his first ATP championship in Nice earlier this year.

“Today was a very special day”.

One of the match sepctators was world No. 1 Novak Djokovic. “Usually he is the one who entertains us with great tennis and today we turned it around”. That was his his last stand. Dictating rallies from the center of the court, Thiem reeled off six straight games as an increasingly disinterested Monfils offered little resistance in the final two games playing points with casual indifference.

Thiem made only eleven unforced errors, compared to 26 by Sousa.

Dominic Thiem joins former world number one Thomas Muster as the only Austrian victor in Umag and the made it to the list of prominent names that ended up with the winners trophy at Croatia Open. The Austrian’s only low point came as he was serving for the match at 5-0. Thiem was fully in control as he took the opening set with his first set point.

It was their third career meeting and Thiem now leads head-to-heead series by 3-0.

Djokovic, in Croatia on holiday after winning the Wimbledon crown, was also enjoying his time in Umag, having last played the tournament in 2006.

“Of course I’m exhausted, but since I won it’s OK”, he said. “I feel sad that he did not make it to the finals, but tennis is like that”. Even though he played the tournament Novak Djokovic is not on that list losing 2006 final to Stan Wawrinka when he was forced to retire. “I promised myself to come back here before I end my career”, Djokovic said.