Dominic Thiem captured his first Grand Slam title after defeating Alexander Zverev in the US Open final on Sunday night in Flushing, Quens.
Thiem fell behind early, losing the first two sets 2-6, 4-6 as Zverev seemingly bent the match to his will with every serve and vicious ground stroke.
But the Austrian fought back. Thiem captured the next two sets 6-4, 6-3, and withstood what appeared to be a bout of cramps in the fifth-set tiebreaker to win the decider 7-6.
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This was Thiem's second straight Grand Slam final after he lost a five-setter to world No. 1 Novak Djokovic in Melbourne earlier this year.
In fact, the second-seeded Thiem was arguably the favorite after Djokovic defaulted in the Round of 16 of the US Open against Spaniard Pablo Carreno Busta, though No. 5-seeded Zverev certainly had a claim to that title, as well.
Both players swung for the fences. Zverev finished the match with 15 aces, but he also had 15 double faults. The pair also combined for a whopping 95 winners and 119 unforced errors.
Thiem had the opportunity to close the match up 6-5 in the fifth, but Zverev broke serve, setting up the tiebreaker.
Things looked even more grim for Thiem when he began gimping around the court and grimacing in pain. The announcers—John and Patrick McEnroe—noted Thiem appeared to be suffering from cramps, and he kept moving around and bouncing up and down to avoid locking up.
But Thiem withstood the pain and exhaustion, finally reaching the mountaintop in his third Grand Slam final.
No fans were on hand to watch the amazing spectacle, but Thiem and Zverev still managed to provide the drama and excitement worthy of a US Open final.
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