Rafael Nadal dug deep to send his match with Daniil Medvedev to a deciding set on Wednesday at the Nitto ATP Finals. The Spaniard fought back to level the score at 6-7(3), 6-3.

Nadal holds a 2-0 lead in his FedEx ATP Head2Head rivalry with Medvedev. Both wins came this year in title matches at the Coupe Rogers and US Open. They are both looking for their first win of the week in Group Andre Agassi.

The Spaniard is also looking to finish as year-end No. 1 in the ATP Rankings for the fifth time. If he defeats Medvedev, then Novak Djokovic must win the title in order to finish as year-end No. 1 for a record-tying sixth time.

Medvedev is seeking his 60th tour-level win of the season (59-19). He’s won 29 of his past 34 matches, including his first two ATP Masters 1000 titles at the Western & Southern Open (d. Goffin) and Rolex Shanghai Masters (d. Zverev), in addition to a maiden crown on home soil at the St. Petersburg Open (d. Coric).

Nadal saved the lone break point of the opening set at 3-3 with a passing shot winner. Both players remained even until midway through the tie-break, when Medvedev leaned into a forehand for a 5/3 mini-break advantage. Two points later, a big first serve from Medvedev gave him the early lead.

The two-time finalist (2010, 2013) at this event refused to bow out quietly, though. Nadal pumped his first after securing a break in the opening game of the second set and maintained the momentum. With Medvedev serving at 3-5, the Russian hit a forehand wide on set point to tie up the score.

More to follow…

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Three days ago, he lifted the trophy at the Next Gen ATP Finals in Milan. On Wednesday, Jannik Sinner is back in action, kicking off his final tournament of the season on home soil in snowy Ortisei.

The 18-year-old Italian is set to compete at the ATP Challenger Tour event in northern Italy, located less than two hours from his hometown of San Candido. This is the 10th edition of the Sparkasse Challenger Val Gardena. Last year, Ugo Humbert lifted the trophy and Sinner is looking to follow in his fellow #NextGenATP’s footsteps.

The teenager opens against Austria’s Lucas Miedler in a sold-out night session. They have met twice already this year, with the Italian prevailing in straight sets in both Bergamo and Orleans.

Sinner has taken the Challenger circuit by storm this year, en route to his Milan breakthrough. In February, he became Italy’s youngest winner ever with his maiden title in Bergamo and joined elite company with a second crown in Lexington over the summer. The biggest mover to the Top 100 this year, he has soared more than 600 spots to a career-high No. 96 in the ATP Rankings.

Dominic Thiem minced no words after finishing off a thrilling third-set tie-break victory against five-time champion Novak Djokovic at the Nitto ATP Finals on Tuesday evening in what was perhaps one of the best matches of 2019.

“It was maybe the best match I’ve ever played,” Thiem said. “It was a real classic and epic match, which will happen from time to time at these big tournaments.”

Thiem had trailed Djokovic 3-6 in their FedEx ATP Head2Head series, and the Serbian is pushing to potentially finish year-end No. 1 in the ATP Rankings for a record-tying sixth time. But Thiem showed no fear on the court, powering his way to the win after nearly three hours.

“I knew that I had to play like this to beat him. Against everybody who qualified for this tournament here, there is a special effort necessary to win. I did it against Roger, and I did it also today,” Thiem said. “Probably Novak is the best player in the world right now, so I had to do something outstanding, something unusual, and that’s what I did. I mean, I was hitting really, really hard.”

The 26-year-old is the first Austrian to qualify for the semi-finals of the Nitto ATP Finals, a feat not even former World No. 1 Thomas Muster accomplished. Thiem won just one round-robin match at the season finale in each of the past three years.

“I’m really confident, of course. It was I think for the first time that I beat two [members] of the Big Three back-to-back, which gives me a lot of confidence,” Thiem said. “I’m super happy and proud that I reached the semi-finals for the first time. It was a big goal, but of course it’s not enough now. I’ll try to play a good match against Matteo [Berrettini] on Thursday. Of course, it’s a little bit more comfortable now that I don’t have a lot of pressure in this match, but of course I want to continue the great shape and then [turn my] full focus on the semi-finals.”

The 16-time tour-level champion is tied for the ATP Tour-lead this season alongside Djokovic with five trophies. But with his semi-final qualification, the World No. 5 is just two wins from finishing the season with a bang in London.

“It would be the biggest title of my career. I think this tournament here is almost on level with the Grand Slams, because it’s so tough to win it,” Thiem said. “You have to beat only Top 10 players. You have to beat the eight best players of the season. Maybe this tournament is the most difficult to win all year.”

Thiem put himself in position to be able to look ahead at that by battling through a memorable classic against Djokovic. He let slip a break advantage twice in the decider — including at 6-5 — but managed to overcome a 1/4 deficit in the third-set tie-break to move to 15-2 in deciding sets this year.

“It had everything what a match like this needs. He was up, I was up. He was playing amazing points. Me, I was playing amazing points. And then I think the match deserved an end in the third-set tiebreak,” Thiem said. “If we are playing two hours 45, two Top 10 players, it’s only about luck, and it was a little bit more on my side today in the third-set tiebreak. But I’m really happy and proud because… it was probably the best match I’ve ever played.”

Entering the season, the Austrian had won just 55.9 per cent of his tour-level hard-court matches. But after defeating Djokovic, he is 25-9 on hard courts in 2019, giving him a winning percentage of 73.5 per cent this season. He has won three of his five titles in 2019 on the surface, including his first ATP Masters 1000 title on hard courts at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells.

Thiem believes that there are “two main factors” that have aided his improvement on the surface.

“The first is that I really improve my aggressive game style. I’m coming in to the net way more, and that’s just important on the hard courts,” Thiem said. “There are also some big advantages for me on surfaces like this. I don’t get the backhand in uncomfortably. I can hit it most of the time in a pretty good zone for me. That’s why I can go many times for a very risky shot, and the possibility that the ball goes in is pretty high because this surface makes it possible that I don’t have to hit it too uncomfortable.”

Thiem is looking plenty comfortable at The O2, and now he is guaranteed a spot in the last four at the season finale.

Just two months ago, Rafael Nadal and Daniil Medvedev battled in a five-set epic in the US Open final, with the Russian forging a memorable comeback before the lefty showed his steely resolve to earn a 19th Grand Slam title. Both will need to bring their best to The O2 on Wednesday as they seek to earn their first victory of the 2019 Nitto ATP Finals.

Nadal leads Medvedev 2-0 in their FedEx ATP Head2Head series, with both of their matches coming this year. They are used to high stakes, with their previous battles coming in the final of an ATP Masters 1000 event (Montreal) and a Grand Slam (Flushing Meadows). It will be no different in London, as they try to avoid going 0-2 in Group Andre Agassi play.

Nadal withdrew from his Rolex Paris Masters semi-final less than two weeks ago due to an abdominal strain. But the Spaniard said after his straight-sets loss on Monday against Alexander Zverev that he felt fine, and simply did not play well enough to beat the German.

“It was not a problem with the abdominal at all. I did not feel pain in the abdominal at all. Just Sascha played well and [I] played bad, honestly. We can find reasons or excuses, but at the end of the day, [all that] really matters is I need to play much better,” Nadal said. “I stay positive. I stay competitive, something that [against Zverev] I was not. That’s the thing that I am more disappointed [about], because knowing that I will not be at my 100 per cent in terms of feelings, in terms of movement, in terms of confidence or hitting the ball, I needed my best competitive spirit [against Zverev], and I was not there in that way.”

Nadal will look to turn that around against Medvedev, who in falling to Stefanos Tsitsipas dropped consecutive matches for the first time since June. He will have to raise his level against Nadal, who has lost his first two round-robin matches at the Nitto ATP Finals just once (2009) in eight appearances.

“I’m struggling a little bit with finding back my level I had in the USA and Shanghai and St. Petersburg, which is… I think normal for any sportsman, and that’s what is amazing about the top three, Big Three and Murray before, that even when you kind of look at them and you think, ‘Okay, they are not playing as good as they can’, they still win these matches,” said Medvedev, who recently advanced to the final of six straight tour-level events he played. “That’s what I’m missing right now, and that’s what I’m going to try to work on and still have two matches to come. Hopefully [I] can play them better.”

Medvedev, the fourth seed, has earned eight Top 10 wins this season, making his career’s total nine. As a tournament debutant — two years after competing in the Next Gen ATP Finals in Milan — Medvedev seeks his first victory at the Nitto ATP Finals.

In the evening singles match, defending champion Alexander Zverev and first-time qualifier Stefanos Tsitsipas will meet in the youngest match at this event since a 22-year-old Andy Murray beat a 21-year-old Juan Martin del Potro in 2009 round-robin action.

Zverev entered the tournament 1-5 this season against Top 10 opposition. But with his opening victory against Nadal, the German has now won five of his past six matches at the season finale, all of which have come against Top 10 players.

The 22-year-old’s three most recent victories at The 02 have come against the ‘Big Three’. He is the first player to defeat the legendary trio at this event. In those matches, he did not drop a set, breaking serve nine times.

But Tsitsipas has proven a challenging foe for Zverev, leading their FedEx ATP Head2Head series 3-1, with two of his wins coming this year.

“[They were] both fantastic matches. Especially I think in Beijing it was very, very close and could have gone both ways, even though it was two sets,” Zverev said. “It’s going to be interesting. He played a fantastic match [against Medvedev], I thought, especially for the first time playing here. It’s never easy. I’m looking forward to it.”

Tsitsipas will carry confidence into this matchup after defeating Medvedev for the first time on his sixth attempt. The Greek star let it be known all year he wanted to compete in the season finale. And after an impressive debut on Monday, there are scenarios in which he could qualify for the semi-finals on Wednesday.

Group Andre Agassi Semi-final Qualification Scenarios

“It was actually even better than I dreamt of it,” Tsitsipas said after beating Medvedev. “I felt very relaxed today. I don’t know why. Just the importance of me standing on this court just relaxes me, for some reason. I feel really comfortable, and I felt like I had nothing to be afraid of. Just being on that court is already a big excitement, a big joy. It’s something that I dreamt always, and it does feel very special.”