First up at the O2 Arena was Group London 2020 on Sunday. Rafa Nadal was relatively untroubled against Rublev winning it 6-3 6-4. Nadal broke Rublev in the 6th game of the first set after a forehand from Rublev caught the tape unluckily for the Russian with the game in deuce. Rublev immediately tried to break back pushing Nadal all the way to deuce before the Spaniard held on. The rest of the set went on serve with Nadal clinching it to love.
The sulky looking Rublev’s serve was broken right at the start of the second after another net cord. The rest of the set went on serve to give Rafa the victory. It was no such easy going for US Open Champ Dominic Thiem against Tsitsipas who had his best season yet. He took a very competitive tie breaker in the first set 7-5. Tsitsipas broke the Austrian’s serve in the third game of the second set and duly served out the set 6-4. Thiem came out of the starting blocks of the third the strongest breaking Tsitsipas in his first service game of the set. A clay court tennis-like drop shot sealing the point for Thiem. In truth he never looked like letting that serve break slip and he won the 3rd 6-3.
