Perfect Landing: Thiem, Sevastova soar to victory in airport hangar
"It was probably the best that I have played in the last month," the world No. 3 said.
Although most of the world will not be catching a flight anytime soon due to the on-going pandemic, tennis fans had the chance to catch the action-packed tennis held inside the Hangar 6 at Tempelhof Airport in Berlin.
Two players closed out the exhibition event on a strong note to lift the bett1ACES trophies. Here are the final-round matchups results—and the best images—from Sunday's play. (All photos from Getty Images.)
Having lost to the Dominic Thiem earlier in the week on grass at the Rott-Weiss Tennis Club, Jannik Sinner entered the championship match excited and relishing the opportunity to face the world No. 3 again.
Getting the break later in the first set, it was Thiem that could do no wrong as he executed perfectly from start to finish. In just over an hour, he would claim his second trophy in Berlin with a 6-4, 6-2 victory over Sinner.
"I don't know what happened I was feeling every single ball from the return of serve to the baseline," Thiem said in his on-court interview. "I'm super happy, it was a match on a good level, but I have to say it was probably the best that I have played in the last month."
Up next was Anastasia Sevastova and Petra Kvitova, who would end up going the distance before wrapping up the hard-court portion of the event.
Sevastova was relentless during the entire event. In the Latvian's semifinal against Elina Svitolina, she posted a dominating 6-1, 6-1 win, and in Sunday's final clash with Kvitova she started off in the same commanding fashion.
Sevastova would race to a quick 2-0 lead, but the world No. 43 started to experience some turbulence. Kvitova would shake things up with her heavy ground game, causing Sevastova to drop her first set of the tournament.
However, the 30-year-old weathered the storm and stayed patient to post a 3-6, 6-3, 10-5 score to win the hard-court stage of the Berlin event.
"I started to serve better in the second set and I had my chances and I knew that I had to take them at 4-3," Sevastova said. "It was just a couple of points that decided the match."
And there you have it, two champions holding up their trophies on an airport apron in Germany. While it's a very unusual sight, it's events like these that give fans and players hope and confidence that the game will be back in full flight soon.
