With the ATP season now finished for 2016, we can look back on some great matches over the course of the year, and reflect on how these matches have helped shape the rankings going into 2017. Over the course of this week five matches will be remembered.
No.5 – Dominic Thiem defeats Nicolas Almagro 7-6, 3-6, 7-6, in the Buenos Aires Final.
This match makes the list for remembering a young talent’s victory over a excellent clay specialist trying to get his career back on track after injury. It just edges out the equally enthralling semi-final victory for Thiem against Rafael Nadal in the semi-finals. This match really shaped the course of Dominic Thiem’s outstanding 2016 season. Going into the year ranked at No.20 the Austrian had had an indifferent start to the year, reaching the semi-finals of just one of his first three events at the Brisbane International (l. to Federer). His run at the Buenos Aires Open handed him his first title of a season where he would add a further three titles, reach the semi-finals of a Grand Slam for the first time, qualify for the season-ending ATP World Tour Finals and finish inside the Emirates Top 10.
This match was not just about Dominic Theim though. Nicolas Almagro was once ranked at No.10 in the ATP rankings. His best results have come on clay, reaching the quarter-finals at Roland Garros three times (2008, 2010, 2012). Since 2014 though, Almagro had struggled with a foot injury, and saw his ranking plummet out of the Top 100. Almagro recovered to play this match with a ranking once again in the Top 100, though not near his once normal placing in the Top 30. Nevertheless, this match saw Almagro at his sensational best once again, providing formidable opposition for the young Austrian. The Spaniard built on his performance in this final, moving his ranking back into the Top 50 by the end of the season.
The match itself saw many long rallies, as both players unsurprisingly looked to dictate from the baseline and beyond. Both right-handers with one-handed backhands and aggressive games, in many ways Almagro and Thiem were very similar in style. The first set saw both attack hard, often forcing thirty or deuce games against each other’s serve. In particular both used the cross-court angles superbly well, on both wings, forcing each other to demonstrate admirable defensive traits as well as attacking strengths.
The first set went to a tie-break, and Thiem took the initiative from the off, seizing on a slightly short mid-court ball from Almagro to crush a forehand. Almagro then collapsed when serving at two-five, losing both points to give the younger man the early advantage.
Almagro did well to recover from love-thirty when serving at one-two in the second, before breaking Thiem at three-all when a fortunate net cord forced a net-rushing Thiem into an error. Thiem lost his composure towards the end of the set, missing a regulation lob before double-faulting on set point to ensure that Almagro would serve first in the championship decider.
Almagro’s hot form continued into the second set, breaking early. Thiem came back and refused to let Almagro consolidate the early break, levelling up at two-all. The set then went with serve, resulting in a tie break. Again, it was the Austrian who came through the victor, with Almagro framing a forehand long on match point to hand Thiem his first title of a terrific 2016.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XUjmImvbuVU
