Day 6 - Dominic Thiem v David Goffin Tennis: World Tour Finals

That was nerveless.

It's Gough Gough Gough that strikes

first.

That is superb.

David Goffin gets his man.

It is all or nothing today.

The winner goes through, the loser

goes home. The prize for the winner,

a Saturday semifinal showdown with

Roger Federer. I wonder of the Cup

of Tea challenge returns between Tim

& drew. This is a hard one to call?

It is. Identify been going through

the head-to-heads, looking at the

guides. Goffin is up 6-3. He has

been teamed in big matches in the

Australian Open and Monte Carlo but

I wonder about the previous

performance here, losing to

Dimitrov, that was a lesson. So we

will have to see how he bouncing

back from that.

It is hard to cock back?

Let's be

clear. There is no challenge. He

hasn't got anything right all week,

stop giving him credit! I will be

interested to see who he goes for

today. You beat the world number

one, Nadal. Then you are duffed and

lose two games. I think that is more

to do with the way that Dimitrov

played than Goffin playing badly. We

will see about the team defence.

It's a good-looking match with a

massive prize. I'm picking... What

do you want to pick?

I had to let

you pick on your birthday. It was a

no-brainer with Dimitrov. But my

choice now, I'm going to go for...

Dominic Thiem.

You have stolen my

thunder.

It will be interesting to see how

Goffin nullifies the power and turn

it is against Thiem. We have had

great matches this week. This could

be another.

It could.

So, the players are making their way

to the court. Here they come.

Ladies and gentlemen, the first

Belgium player to qualify for the

ATP Finals fine, David Goffin!

Ladies and gentlemen, playing at the

Nitto ATP Finals for the second year

round, from Austria, Dominic Thiem!

So, let's go back to your choice,

you are going with Thiem but he's

not had a great build up to the

event, as he?

Did you say my choice

or guess? No, he hasn't. And playing

in the conditions, I have heard the

players saying that the ball is

flying. And it's not easy to

control. He is aggressive from the

back of the court with big swings,

so it makes it difficult to control.

So the way that he counteracts is to

go further behind hind the baseline.

Doing that he puts himself in

negative territory. So interesting

to see if David Goffin can play

closer to the baseline to dictate

play. The person that can be

offensive and be the proactive

player has the opportunity.

OK.

Welcome to the Nitto ATP Finals, we

have the ATP side or the Fed-Ex

side?

ATP.

ATP is going to call. Go ahead.

ATP it is, proceed.

One quick photo.

The photo with Steve and he has

chosen to return as Federer did, and

put the pressure on Thiem's serve

from the go. But let's hear from the

players, who admit to being each

other's favourite players, if off

court, on it.

One of my favourite opponents. I

have a negative head to head with

him. He can really hurt me with his

game. We have had important matches

already on big stages. And this one

coming up.

He's such a great guy. We

have played so many times against

each other. I found solutions to

beat him in the past, so I hope to

find the key, also this week to win

my match against him. But it's not

going to be easy. He is really

dangerous. He's hitting the ball

really hard, so, yeah, it's going to

be a tough match.

And Dominic Thiem, Tim has spoken

about the wind-up on the shots,

which is suited to the clay courts

but he has a big serve as well?

If

there is one area of his game that

you would want him to work on, he is

24 years of age now, over the next

two or three years, he is already a

brilliant player, twice the

semi-finalist in the French Open, it

is his defence, the understanding of

where he is in court. That takes

time. We have seen it with Zverev.

For Thiem, his development is surely

on the defence. The backhand slice

is not a great shot and how to get

the best out of his game. He has to

figure it out. He has a hard time

undoing Goffin, like a lot of

people. I suppose that I have to go

with Goffin, as Tim had first choice

here. But it is very much a 50/50

match. I think that Thiem is

slightly favoured today. He has been

one of my favourites for so long.

Look at him, bantamweight. He is

under 6ft. Everyone is over. I hope

that people enjoy watching the way

that he plays.

Andrew, the head-to-head is 6-3 in

favour of Goffin. He beat Nadal in

the opening match, though?

It

emphasises how difficult it is to

pick. He played an incredible match.

Rafa was struggling with the knees,

and had to pull out but still a

fantastic achievement. He has taken

Cabinet Office from it. Coming on to

the court, you would think he is

feeling good about the game but he

has had -- he has taken on

confidence from it.

So, we will talk more about the

match but back to last night. Most

of the tennis world would have

expected a win for Alexander Zverev

against the man in real form, Jack

Sock but Sock beat the 20-year-old

German to become the first American

to reach the semi-finals here since

and Andy Roddick in 2007. So what

happened to Alexander Zverev?

I

choked. Easy. 6-1, I was up.

A point

penalty. Then I was down 1-4 in ten

minutes, I didn't put the balls in

the court. When I got back at 4-5,

it was are the worst game I played

all year.

So I just choked.

You can't get more honest than that?

It was a tight match. Tim was saying

that there is history between that

pair.

Jack Sock got under his skin, which

is why he choked. So well done Jack

Sock for doing that. As well as

producing the tennis, he got to his

opponent. It's a learning curve, the

kid is 20 years of age. When he

learns how to handle it, and puts

himself in these position, which he

will, he will get better at handling

it. He is still a world number one.

At 20 years old, he is very young

for a tennis player.

. He is three in the world. He has

taken advantage of some of the guys

being out of the equation, I would

put Djokovic, and Andy Murray ahead

of him. But he has to point of view

thing, his forehand is vulnerable.

He can improve that on the off

season. He has made big strides but

he will get stronger and grow into

his body more and understanding how

to deal with different scenarios on

the court. Mentally there he

appreciates he got distracted and

the performance went down. But he

managed to fight his way back in but

played a poor game at the end. So it

ends his year on a sour note but

reflect a fantastic year overall and

bigger and better things in 2018.

When Jack Sock was asked if he was

surprised to be in the semi-finals,

he was saying he was surprised even

to be here. But he is on a winning

streak, and success breeds success?

Very much so.

Him playing Federer, it was a match

he did not expect to win, he didn't

win but he got the opportunity to

play in the atmosphere, in the

environment and he did well in the

next two matches and deserves his

place in the semis.

He does.

So, who plays in the finals here, it

is to be seen. But talking of the

strokes that the team has, will Jack

Sock have to shorten his swings to

play indoors?

Think so.

On clay, the big swings are not a

problem. But on the quicker

surfaces, looking at how to return

the serve, he waits and then changes

for the backhand and forehand grip.

So he has to learn to use the block

to get the ball in play. Use a

shorter swing on the return of

serve. And if playing to the

baseline, shorten the swings again.

But still, he is a great player,

with good results indoors. But this

is a big match.

And then interesting Foranic Noah to

see how this man is playing as it is

France against businessmen next

week?

It is a quick turn around

going from here to France. So a lot

is on Goffin's plate.

Tim, thank you very much. Andrew,

over to you.

Tim, thank you very much. Andrew,

over to you.

Sue, thank you very much indeed. The

crowd are looking forward to this

one as we all. What a prize to play

Federer in the semifinal.

Now that's a way. A reward for

Goffin, who after hitting the

forehand, recovered to the backhand

side to the open court. He made

Thiem think he had to hit a better

shot than he actually did.

A big, heavy kick-serve. Only 102

miles an hour but really rising up

to the Goffin camp.

That is 13 of the last 15 games that

Goffin has lost. I don't think it

will bother him too much. He was

duffed the other day. He had a day

off. A bruising encounter to only

pick up two games. First serve

placement from Dominic Thiem. We

have spoke been how heavy it is. The

red areas unreturned.

But a lot of body especially on the

backhand side. Interesting to see if

he goes into the body on the

backhand side today.

Unbeaten in this Davis Cup run, Sue

was telling us there, in the final

against France in Lille this week.

He has won all four of his singles

matches this year, Goffin.

Oh! Oxygen to Centre Court! That was

definitely getting into anaerobic

territory. Check your Fitbit after

that! 100m, Thiem ran.

We had the statistics yesterday,

Federer and Cilic, there was not a

rally of more than nine shots.

Because Roger didn't want there be

to.

-- didn't want there to be.

This is a horrible serve.

We always say you have to put in the

present tense and Goffin has to put

the Grigor Dimitrov match behind

him.

Only two break points down here.

That's a good second serve but the

forehand doesn't find the mark.

Dominic Thiem so far. He's played 26

tournaments this year. A great

supporter of the Tour. The most of

anybody in this field.

Just behind him is Goffin with 25.

The two top, Nadal and Federer have

played 17 and 16 tournaments

respectively. Quite a lot less.

It is also important to remember

that six of those events with

two-week events.

You think about the time on the road

if you are playing 18 tournaments,

it is 24 weeks. You are probably

there the week before, it's a good

28 weeks on the road.

Kristina, the world Number 11.

And Dominic Thiem delighted with the

start he has made.

Both players have had splendid years

to be here. Last year, Goffin was

here as a alternate when Monfils

pulled out. Goffin picked up two

titles on the right-hand side of

your screen there. A semi-finalist

in Monte Carlo and a quarterfinalist

in the Australian Open. A 55-year

match best which is a career high.

Dominic Thiem, semifinal in the

French Open where he lost to Nadal

but he beat Novak Djokovic there. A

tremendous effort. Two semi-finals

now on his favoured, clay.

Just that one title. A lot less hard

court wins. He call him The

Dominator. You can see why.

He used to have a backhand swing but

his coach got him to change it back

to single.

. In this day and age to have a

single handed backhand, it really

has to be a top, top shot. His is

right up there with the best. A

brave move to change.

Not afraid of hard work, they say.

From Goffin's point of view, getting

off to a start like, this you want a

few cheat points. Bang down a few

unreturnable serves but he doesn't

really have that weapon.

They both help.

Keen to get his side of the

scoreboard moving a little quicker

than he did against Dimitrov.

He's had five victories against

players in the top ten this year.

The latest of those against Rafa

Nadal, here on Monday evening.

He's kind of a throw his back

player, isn't he? You can imagine

him playing in the old days before

the bigger rackets came in. He has

the touch and the feel. The ability

to explode out of the ball and take

the racket out of the opposition's

hand, that's not the way he gets his

winning done.

He just buzzes about making life

difficult for an opponent. He can

nullify anybody's power.

Error! Error! Error!

Well that was a horrible game. One

of Goffin's strengths is his

consistency. He very rarely loses

early in tournaments. He brings, if

not his A-game, certainly a solid B

game, which is what you have to do

most of the time. He bring it is

every single week. Looking back at

his year, the quarterfinal at the

Australian Open, the final at

Rotterdam, the semi-finals at Monte

Carlo, and at Madrid. And through

the heart courts in the summer. It

is one of the a facets of the game

that people have noticed is the rise

of youngsters with Alexander Zverev

here but in the finals in Milan for

the 21 and unders, there was a

showcase of real talent. He is one

of them. It is encouraging, this

next generation may be coming

through. Who do you like best out of

that generation?

Shabalov, he looks

pretty useful.

Rubalev is OK.

Medvedev?

He looks OK. There are a

few kinks that need ironing out.

Chunk who won in Milan?

Yeah, he is

very good. Very impressive. A good

mover.

Quincy played as well, the Italian.

A lot of elements of that new,

excellent new event in Milan. It

will be introduced on the Tour over

the years, I think. Back on serve.

When the errors start flowing waters

Thiem do? He can't just hit it

harder -- what does Thiem do?

You see, as far as he is concerned,

he's thrown to three of his best

shots and the ball has come back.

David Goffin keeps on asking this

question, which could account for

the head-to-head, which is 6-3

Goffin.

Eight straight points. 3-3.

I think for Thiem to progress he has

to find solutions on the other

surfaces. He can obviously play

fantastic tennis with his power and

consistency on a clay court, but on

a hard court, a slightly faster

indoor court, he can't suddenly have

six or seven minutes like that when

he has made a lot of unforced errors

and given the initiative back.

Bye bye. Nine straight points.

It is more than that because he won

the game to go 3-1, Goffin.

Yeah.

Come on, maths man.

I thought I said

at some stage Goffin needed a few

cheap points on his server when he

was 0-15 and then he won four

straight. But I'm slightly Gesink

but I would say that's 14 in a row.

-- guessing.

That therefore means

Thiem will win this point for sure.

This is a complete collapse.

How interesting. That my man would

be so dominating.

APPLAUSE

This is right up there with Stan

Wawrinka's backhand in terms of the

production of the shot. Wawrinka has

a much better slice backhand.

And that's the way as well. This is

difficult for Thiem and his

supporters to watch, from 3-0 up to

3-4 down. Amazing. Gunter Bresnik

who works with him is quick to

praise his young charge for the work

effort, the effort he puts in and

workload he is prepared to shoulder.

Gunter Bresnik has been with many

players over the year including

Boris Becker. At the moment he is

looking over their saying what have

I got to do? He hates his forehand.

You've got to figure it out

yourself. Dedicated and diligent on

the practice court, all of these

things. There is Gunter Bresnik but

there cannot be any communication

and you don't mind that, you'd think

that should stay the same.

Yes, I

did I think it's one of the great

features of our sport, it one

against one and when things are not

going well you have to work it out,

whether it is tactically or

technically. You've got to find the

solutions.

At the next gen finals in

one of the innovations was to get

headphones on players and the

coaches as well and they could talk

to each other and we could listen

in. It was great.

Until they start

speaking Polish.

Well, in that case

we need subtitles quickly! Unless,

of course, you understand Polish.

You can tell from the body language.

I like it on the women's two when

the coaches come on the court. I

take your point. It is entertaining.

We are moving into a computer age.

Getting right in the action. New

tennis balls, 4- with break. -- 4-3

with break.

He's looking straight over at Gunter

Bresnik, who again, could be looking

at his mum or his partner, Kristina

Mladenovic. Could be looking at

anybody.

There is another one. Goffin will

see this and just hit the ball there

all day long until the team works it

out.

Where Goffin has been

impressive command in a funny way

against Dimitrov he never lost his

cool, never tapped out mentally, and

even after a terrible start he has

really stayed calm. He has shown

lots of experience to bide his time.

And all of a sudden 4-3, 30-0,

things looking good for him not me.

That's a nice injection of pace.

Everything is under control for

Goffin. When he's playing well, big

change of pace, he will throw in 100

mph serve, he can get up to 125.

That is at 104, just throwing it

out.

104 and 72% of first serves

finding their mark for Goffin.

Thierry Van Cleemput works with

David Goffin. 3-0 two Thiem and 5-3

to Goffin. -- to Thiem.

Nice game, four straight points for

Thiem, something to work with.

Goffin will serve for the set. I

like a game like that to set up a

break effort.

You like a game like

that when you've lost five in a row.

Thiem really has to get back to his

game plan of really trying to bully

Goffin without making unforced

errors. At the beginning he was very

patient, he won 12 of the first 15

points when he wasn't making those

mistakes. Controlled aggression. But

when the balance goes too far and he

makes the mistakes, that's when he

invites his opponent back into the

match.

Both men you are watching

today men's fathers were tennis

coaches. Dominic Thiem employs

Gunter Bresnik as his coach now.

Gunter Bresnik used to employ

Dominic's father at his tennis

academy as a coach in Vienna. He has

worked with him from a very young

age. It must be a moment of great

pride for everybody involved to see

your protege, your son, your people,

making it all the way to the

season-ending finale. Brilliant --

Europe you kill. Even if it was you

that was here twice. -- pupil. You

could never tell what your mum and

dad were thinking when they were

watching you. Did you know they were

up there every time?

Yes. My mum

enjoyed it, they both enjoyed it but

my dad was definitely the nervous

one.

You couldn't tell.

You cannot miss that. It is another

forehand mistake on the first point

in again when you have to break.

Nerves.

That's a great point. Thiem just

cannot break this man down.

It's

difficult to break an opponent down

when hitting shots from seven,

eight, nine feet behind the

baseline, as hard as he is hitting

the ball has to travel that much

further and Goffin has chance to get

in position and dictate play from a

bit closer up to the baseline.

Just wide, and it's going upstairs

and Thiem hangs his head. He was

there. Goffin sliced across the

volley. It was just going away from

Thiem at the end here. Has he caught

that? Good call.

Small margins at

important times.

And Goffin does find the mark on the

forehand pass. Wonderful set of

tennis for Goffin, from 3-0 down,

Thiem so disappointed with that. The

first set 6-4 with the prize of

facing Roger Federer in the

semifinal. Tremendous effort. The

work he has put in. He hasn't gone

over, perhaps he caught himself with

his mail coming through on the

backhand side.

I think it was one of

the big lunges when he was really

getting low and caught his knee on

the ground. Let's look at the stats.

Come on then. The parade of

knowledge from Tim Henman.

Net point

Swann, not a lot of net point

action. Not a lot of winners. -- net

points won.

Come on, more.

12

unforced errors to Thiem, they came

as the set progressed.

I've noticed

on the second page of the graphics

you normally warm up.

Well, yes.

Total distance run, disappointing,

only 579 metres.

100 metres from

Thiem was in one rally.

Five

rallies, over nine shots. Now this

is where something of interest,

Thiem at 46% first serves, not good

enough, 71% is impressive from

Goffin, winning, good percentage

when it goes in, 76%. Both players

struggling on second serve as well.

It's like having a series of rev

counters and the temperature of the

engine and the oil filters, or

whatever. It's all there somewhere.

CHUCKLES

That was a really poor effort. It's

as best you can do with some of

these things because it's about a

point or two here and there, Thiem

missing the past and Gough on making

Thiem's life difficult.

If you break

down the set, it was 3-0, great play

by Thiem, and then there hasn't

really been a moment where they have

both played their best tennis at the

same time.

We are having that little

cut attended to serve it will take a

few extra seconds here. Stick a

plaster on it, it's fine. Any sort

of break now for Dominic Thiem

greatly received, I would imagine.

He also works with Alex Tober who is

an experienced trainer and physio,

so the team are in position, number

four in the world. Still a lot of

improvement is possible in the game,

and yet already a really big name in

the game. Dimitrov against Carreno

Busta tonight. Then we are into the

semifinals and final over the

weekend. We look forward to it.

Federer has been favourite to win

the season-ending championship from

the word go. Rafael Nadal pulled out

after one match and even more so.

But Jack Sock this through. That

will have surprised some people.

Federer will play the winner of this

match here.

So, we have had an investigation.

I'm not quite sure how he did that.

How did he do that?

It's the back

leg just catching the surface, which

is still fairly abrasive, just takes

the skin off. If he played a bit

closer to the baseline and was more

aggressive he wouldn't do so much

running and wouldn't cut his knee.

Pretty good effort to get low

enough, isn't it? There is no Andy

Murray this week, the defending

champion, who appeared in last

year's final with Novak Djokovic.

Andy Murray had an amazing end to

last year, he went all the way to

number one in the world. At the

moment hip problems keeping Andy

Murray out of the limelight and off

the court. He was here this week,

happy to be on site at the

tournament feeling part of it. You

played with him at the Andy Murray

live event in Glasgow, hit a few

balls against him on the doubles

court.

That's right. It was pretty

much an ideal time for him to play

his match against Roger Federer.

Raised a lot of money for charity,

but also gave him a chance to see

where he is at on his comeback. He

has still got a ways to go but

moving in the right direction.

Coming here to hit with some of the

guys gives him another indication of

where he's at.

UMPIRE:

Mr Gove fan is challenging

the call -- Goffin.

Neither player into much doubt that

this was wide. Judging from their

court positions now.

APPLAUSE

Just from around and about in the

world of tennis, congratulations to

Sarah Clark, Championships director

at the All-England Club for a number

of years where she has been

responsible for the organisation of

the Championships at Wimbledon. Not

somebody you may know but an

important figure behind-the-scenes.

She has been approved for the

appointment of Black Rod. We must

congratulate her for that, the first

such a role to go to a woman in the

650 year history of that position,

so many congratulations and

appointed by the Queen herself and

well done, Sarah Clarke, a big loss

to the tournament. Black Rod's that

one that goes at the opening of the

Queen's speech and everything, the

opening of the door, she smacks on

the door. Sarah will be good at

that.

I wouldn't argue with her.

No,

she clearly knows how to maintain

some control. Congratulations.

These errors, this is a

disappointment at the end of a

really wonderful week of tennis. We

have seen so much good tennis,

despite some of the big names not

being here. Know Novak, Rafa pulling

out, no Andy, Stan Wawrinka, Kei

Nishikori not here. But the tennis

has been great.

He has got no answers, has he, at

the moment? Davidoff and is

continuing to ask a series of

difficult questions. -- David

Goffin. Is set and a break but still

a long way from home for David

Goffin at a career-high of April in

the world with a couple of victories

in Shenzhen and Japan in Tokyo,

semifinalist in Basel this year, an

impressive year indeed. His dad is

also a tennis coach in Liege. Who

that up there? A very fine recovery

after getting hammered by Grigor

Dimitrov, don't you think?

It is an

impressive recovery and taking into

account that he was 3-0 down in the

first set, won eight of the next ten

games, he has just remained patient,

stuck to his game and executed it

better, whereas with Thiem you are

just saying, is it time to turn to

plan B? I'm not sure what it would

be. Or is it just do plan a much

better. As with the case with a lot

of these guys, it is about doing

plan a a lot better.

He's doing very

well, watch this, we will keep the

camera on him. He almost went when

that lady pointed. They have

responded well to the Stevie Wonder

track. They know what's coming. Come

on, yes. You've got to find those

ones that said they would work from

home this afternoon.

CHUCKLES

The lights have gone down.

We will see if this match catches

fire, as it were, but it is a set

and 2-1 at the moment to David

Goffin looking to play Federer in

the semifinals.

APPLAUSE

APPLAUSE

Interesting to see if we get a

replay of the second serve inside

our commentary box. It looked tight

to the line. If he had challenged

it, it would have been out.

This is where the next generation

automatic line calls are a good

thing. I love Hawk-Eye. There is no

point in having the technology there

if you're not going to go to it.

I like the element of the challenge

so, that the players have to think

about when they use it, if they use

it.

Oh! What a second serve! Absolutely

be if youedling Thiem there.

He skipped around the back end and

Goffin slips it down the middle at

94 miles an hour. He's a tennis

player. Really gifted.

A little ways to go before Goffin

can think about that.

He should have lost that serve,

shouldn't sne He? Goffin has lost to

Dimitrov two days ago.

If you have a chance do catch a bit

of Roger Federer tomorrow afternoon.

To say he is doing well, it is a bit

of an understatement. He is a

phenomena, really.

Dear oh, dear. That forehand is a

bit like Alexander Zverev against

Jack Sock last evening.

Just really letting him down.

The young gun's not firing.

Break point for Goffin for the

double break.

Well done David Goffin. He is doing

everything right.

To think he was down in the first

set.

Now he is 4-1 up. Amazing.

I think Goffin made eight or nine

unforced errors in the first three

games. Only making three forced

errors since. He's won ten of the

last 12 games. Very solid.

errors since. He's won ten of the

last 12 games. Very solid.

He

He has just done enough.

And just his ability to change that

direction of the ball. To change the

spin, the height over the net. There

is still room for it in the game,

isn't there? You don't need a mighty

serve, either. It's the case of

using what your opponent is throwing

at you and making his life difficult

down the other end. That remains the

essence of this game. People get

wrapped in up in playing their own

game. Dominating but what happens if

the opponent does something you were

not expecting? You have to fall back

on something. It is not thought

about enough.

It is easy to focus on people's

offensive skills. Watching Federer,

he has great defensive skills. I

believe that the top four are the

best players in the world as they

defend so well. Federer, Nadal,

Djokovic and Murray. There are so

many times that they stay in the

rally, they don't have forced

errors, they don't make their

opponent hit.

He's a mini one of them.

103 mile an hour serve. Straight

into the forehand, buried it in the

bottom of the net.

You're not going to give yourself

chance to get back into matches if

you're missing shots like that.

It was the first serve that was

accurately placed but at 106 miles

an hour, you've got to find a way to

get the ball back in play. Down a

set, 4-1, break point. You want to

try to get one of the breaks back.

Waste of a challenge this one. You

can see right down the centre line.

I think he must be hope for some

Hawk-Eye malfunction.

It's no good trying to hit a half

volley becomehander from the back of

the court, then waving your arms to

your boss to say what happened?! --

backhander.

Hard and harder.

He's dealt with some adversity in

his career. He was Comeback Player

of the Year in 2014. He had a

terrible wrist injury that kept him

out for ages.

It's difficult to watch.

Started the year 110 in 2014 after

the wrist injury. Won three

challenges and a Tour event during

the summer. Actually won 25 straight

matches in a row at one point.

Trying to create new highs now,

getting over the winning line.

It's never easy.

A massive game here. If he goes 5-1,

he knows he's just a little shuffle

from the win.

The crowd is desperate for some more

tennis here.

See, that's a ball you're going to

practice for the next six or seven

weeks before Australia.

Getting pulled on the backhand, and

sliced, not really a difficult shot.

It speaks volumes for Thiem's

offensive abilities that he's been

able to get to number four in the

world without having the sort of

defence that you would expect.

I think he has defensive skills on a

clay-court but I think watching this

performance, we can see that he's

lacking in that category on a hard

court, or an indoor court.

A slight lack of footwork there,

maybe a little nervous. He can see

the finish line up. He doesn't want

to let his opponent back in.

119 miles an hour is his max today,

his comfortable max. He can probably

push that out to 122. But that's his

effort serve. Time and time again he

hits that number. He's a model of

consistency.

That's a great change-up that wide

serve. 87 miles an hour. Thiem

looking to get the forehand into

play by skipping around the backhand

again.

A tough game, this.

The

Goffin barely hit a serve up the T.

What a game to get. 11 minutes plus

and Goffin take as giant stride

towards a final with Roger Federer.

That's tomorrow afternoon.

Having been #3 down in the first

set, remarkable.

Not a great match but an interesting

one.

He has not only qualified here for

the first time outright, although he

was an alternative last year. He was

leading the line with Steve Darcis

with the Belgium team.

To take your team to the Davis Cup

final for the second time in three

years is a tremendous effort.

He was the man Murray beat at the

Flanders Expo in Gent.

With the greatest backhand lob I've

ever seen! It was wonderful.

Hour and nine minutes. This had

seemed unlikely.

Now for a chance for a place in the

semifinal.

Worth a look, isn't it?

Goffin's heart beat will be doing in

a moment if he serves for this.

Clean work on the backhand side and

David Goffin was not here to make

the numbers. He has dried Dominic

Thiem, 6-4, 6-1. Just an hour and 11

minutes. A huge disappointment to

end the season that way for the

Austrian, of course. But David

Goffin, without overly celebrating

in front of his vanquished opponent,

that's a touch of class, he must sob

delighted. What a tremendous effort.

And having been so soundly beaten by

Dimitrov, to come back and produce

that performance. Impressive.

Winning 12 out of the last 14 games

in that match. A strange week for

David Goffin. Dominic Thiem will be

back. A tremendous year and there is

more ahead. Including hard work on

his defence, that he will know

better than everybody. Rather like

Zverev last eving here at the O2

against Jack Sock. Not able to

produce his best tennis when it

really mattered. But Goffin is

through. He will play Roger Federer

in tomorrow's semifinal. 2.00pm BBC

Two for that. Head-to-head between

the two is six to Federer, Goffin

zero. He struggles to get sets off,

so Federer will be the favourite but

Goffin is playing well. He is

through to the semifinal here.

Amazing. Very comfortable in the

end. Let's get his thoughts now.

Amazing. Very comfortable in the

end. Let's get his thoughts now.

Well, well played, David. A

fantastic performance out here. Only

an hour on court. Never easy to play

against a great friend but give us

your thoughts on the win?

No, it is

never easy. Yes, it was a pity to

play against Dominic for the

semifinal. He is such a good friend,

such a nice guy. It was... Like you

say it is never easy to play against

a friend it was tough. That is why I

was really focussed from the start

to the end. I knew he to stay really

calm and be ready for a tough

battle.

Yeah... At the end I'm really happy

the way that I managed the match. I

was really nervous at the end of the

match but yeah, I managed to win the

second set.

You got the job done.

You had a fantastic win against the

world number one, Rafa Nadal and

Monday. A difficult loss from

Dimitrov, how did you manage to pick

up your confidence to come to this

today? It was not easy. Against

Rafa, there was lots of energy on

the court and then to come back

against Grigor who is strong, I

needed to be 110% on the court to

play every rally. I was not ready

for that on the second match. But I

took a good rest yesterday.

I took a good practice, I was ready

for today. So I hope that I can do

the same in the semifinal.

Well, you mentioned the semi-finals.

You're the first Belgium man into

the ATP Finals, you are taking on

Roger Federer tomorrow on this very

court. What will it take to beat

Roger out here?

I have played Roger

so many times. It is always a tough

match to play Roger. It will be full

on the day. A great atmosphere on

the court it is nice to play a

semifinal against him. I have

nothing to lose. He is playing well

but I'll try to raise my level to

try to win against him.

Well, we certainly look forward to

it. Well den again today. David

Goffin!

Thank you.

Well done indeed. A wonderful

performance, after the demolition by

Grigor Dimitrov. Andrew, he played

well today but what happened to

Thiem?

It is like Goffin gave him

the chance to hit himself, blow

himself out, like a hurricane,

really. He knocks the ball into

difficult positions the whole time

and Thiem didn't have the answers.

That was a disappointment on behalf

of Dominic Thiem but Goffin should

be celebrated. A tremendous effort.

It will not get easier against Roger

in the semifinal.

Look at the line-up, Federer against

Goffin. 2.00pm tomorrow. You may not

have picked that at the start of the

week?

No. Federer has done well.

Federer getting through all three

matches but he has been erratic. Now

we are through to the semi-finals

stage. It is all to play for.

Now, Federer did not practice on

Wednesday. Everyone is asking if

there is an injury. Tim, you know

him well, should we be worried?

Definitely not.

It is experience. He doesn't need to

practice.

We found shots of Jack Sock playing

out on the court. Look at that. It

is a bit chilly out there.

There are areas of the place that

are a little cold. But that is

great. Father Christmas here was

knocking the ball around. He's very

comfortable here.

Absolutely. Nothing better than a

warm "sock" on a cold day! A

wonderful performance from David

Goffin. He lost two games to book

his place in the semifinal tomorrow.

We'll see you then. Goodbye.

What a prize to play Federer in the

semifinal.

It's game on here. A wonderful set

of tennis for Goffin. He's got no

answer, has he? Young guns, not

firing. Well done, David Goffin.

He's doing absolutely everything

right.