(Reuters) – A look at the key facts and records of Germany’s Alexander Zverev and Austrian Dominic Thiem before their U.S. Open final on Sunday (prefix number denotes seeding):
5-ALEXANDER ZVEREV
Age: 23
ATP ranking: 7 (Highest ranking: 3)
Grand Slam titles: 0
Career ATP titles: 11
2019 U.S. Open performance: Fourth round
Best U.S. Open performance: Final (2020)
ROAD TO FINAL
First round: Kevin Anderson (South Africa) 7-6(2) 5-7 6-3 7-5
Second round: Brandon Nakashima (U.S.) 7-5 6-7(8) 6-3 6-1
Third round: 32-Adrian Mannarino (France) 6-7(4) 6-4 6-2 6-2
Fourth round: Alejandro Davidovich Fokina (Spain) 6-2 6-2 6-1
Quarter-finals: 27-Borna Coric (Croatia) 1-6 7-6(5) 7-6(1) 6-3
Semi-finals: 20-Pablo Carreno Busta (Spain) 3-6 2-6 6-3 6-4 6-3
Zverev appeared out of sorts early in his semi-final against Carreno Busta but produced a remarkable fightback to record a five-set victory and advance to his first Grand Slam final.
The German has dropped at least one set in five of his six matches en route to the final.
The 23-year-old is bidding to become the first German men’s Grand Slam champion since Boris Becker won the 1996 Australian Open.
2-DOMINIC THIEM
Age: 27
ATP ranking: 3 (Highest ranking: 3)
Grand Slam titles: 0
Career ATP titles: 16
2019 U.S. Open performance: First round
Best U.S. Open performance: Final (2020)
ROAD TO FINAL
First round: Jaume Munar (Spain) 7-6(6) 6-3 retired.
Second round: Sumit Nagal (India) 6-3 6-3 6-2
Third round: 31-Marin Cilic (Croatia) 6-2 6-2 3-6 6-3
Fourth round: 15-Felix Auger-Aliassime (Canada) 7-6(4) 6-1 6-1
Quarter-finals: 21-Alex de Minaur (Australia) 6-1 6-2 6-4
Semi-finals: 3-Daniil Medvedev (Russia) 6-2 7-6(7) 7-6(5)
Thiem has shaken off some early-round rust to charge through the draw, dropping only one set en route to the final.
The 27-year-old Austrian has lost three Grand Slam finals but this will be his first appearance in the summit clash at Flushing Meadows.
Thiem, who is looking to become the first Austrian men’s Grand Slam champion since Thomas Muster won the French Open in 1995, leads Zverev 7-2 in their head to head, most recently defeating him at the Australian Open semi-finals this year.
HEAD TO HEAD: Thiem leads 7-2
2020 Thiem d Zverev 3-6 6-4 7-6(3) 7-6(4) (Australian Open, hard)
2019 Thiem d Zverev 7-5 6-3 (ATP Finals, hard)
2018 Thiem d Zverev 6-4 6-2 6-1 (French Open, clay)
2018 Zverev d Thiem 6-4 6-4 (Madrid, clay)
2017 Thiem d Zverev 3-6 6-3 6-4 (Rotterdam, hard)
2016 Zverev d Thiem 4-6 6-1 6-3 (Beijing, hard)
2016 Thiem d Zverev 6-7(4) 6-3 6-3 6-3 (French Open, clay)
2016 Thiem d Zverev 6-4 3-6 6-0 (Nice, clay)
2016 Thiem d Zverev 4-6 6-2 6-3 (Munich, clay)
(Compiled by Arvind Sriram in Bengaluru; Editing by Christian Radnedge)
