Thiem slays nemesis Nadal to reach Australian Open semis

Thursday, 30 January 2020 02:58 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Austria's Dominic Thiem celebrates after winning his quarter final match against Spain's Rafael Nadal – Reuters

MELBOURNE (Reuters): Dominic Thiem ended six years of Grand Slam frustration against Rafa Nadal on Wednesday with a seismic 7-6(3) 7-6(4) 4-6 7-6(6) upset that booked his maiden Australian Open semi-final and rocked the old guard of men’s tennis.

After pulling off a nerve-shredding win that quashed doubts about his prowess on hardcourts, the 26-year-old Austrian will face Alexander Zverev for a place in the final, a match-up scarcely imaginable at the start of the tournament.

Fifth seed Thiem will head into Friday’s clash against the young German brimming with confidence, having ended top seed Nadal’s bid for a record-equalling 20th Grand Slam title, despite a few wobbles on the way to victory. Turning the tables on the man who had beaten him in all five of their previous Grand Slam meetings, including the last two French Open finals, Thiem became only the second Austrian to reach the last four at Melbourne Park, following Thomas Muster’s runs in 1989 and 1997. In a grandstand finish with the terraces roaring, Nadal saved two match points in the decisive tiebreak but surrendered on the third when he slammed a forehand into the net. The result was different but the match had echoes of the pair’s five-set marathon at the 2018 US Open quarter-finals, when Nadal finally prevailed at 2:04am local time after four hours and 49 minutes of gut-wrenching play.

This time, after four hours and 10 minutes, the Spaniard left with plenty of regrets and, most likely, some ill will toward the net.

The net cord was decisively in Thiem’s corner. He clipped it with a backhand winner that secured the final match point.

“I really feel I was lucky in the right situation, the net cord was really on my side,” an exhausted Thiem said on court.

“It’s necessary because he’s one of the greatest of all time, biggest legend the sport ever had. So you need some luck to beat him.”