Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer in showdown to avoid ATP Finals exit after losing to Dominic Thiem

Only one of the two men who have dominated the ATP Finals over the last decade – Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic – will be able to qualify for the weekend’s knockout phase after Tuesday night’s match, which saw Dominic Thiem produce the performance of his life.

Thiem overcame Djokovic by a 6-7, 6-3, 7-6 scoreline in an unforgettably electric struggle lasting 2hr 47min. The quality of his ball-striking, especially off his aesthetically pleasing single-handed backhand, put many observers in mind of Stan Wawrinka’s own most famous win over Djokovic in the French Open final of 2015.

The upshot was that Thiem became the first man from Group Andre Agassi to seal a place in the semi-finals. And that Djokovic and Federer, who will go head to head on Thursday, must now play off for the right to join Thiem in the next round. This is a rematch of the Wimbledon final, in which Federer held two match points but Djokovic prevailed in the end.

On Tuesday, Federer won his own match against Italy’s Matteo Berrettini – who will face Thiem in a dead rubber on Thursday – in straight sets. In his post-match interview, he was asked whether he is carrying any scarring from that day in July, when the thrilling conclusion to Wimbledon coincided with England’s cricket World Cup victory. “We’ll find out,” Federer replied, “but I think it’s all flushed away from my side.”

The evening match pitted Thiem against a confident Djokovic. And when Thiem fell a set behind after an exhausting 65-minute struggle, he could have been forgiven for feeling demoralised. But this is a man who is beginning to discover how deep his reserves of skill and resilience go.

At the start of the second set, Thiem entered the rare and unusual place where a tennis player feels as though they can do anything. The final statistics showed that he had hit a scarcely credible 50 clean winners to just 27 from his opponent.