Rafael Nadal needed five sets and nearly five hours, but in the wee hours of Wednesday morning the world No. 1 posted a fiercely fought victory over familiar foe Dominic Thiem 0-6, 6-4, 7-5, 6-7(4), 7-6(5) in the U.S. Open quarterfinals.
Yes, you read that score properly. Nadal was bageled in the first set. Thiem began the match playing a kind of other-worldly tennis, leaving Nadal flat-footed and looking for answers that the 17-time Slam champion did not have–instead watching helplessly as forehands, backhands, and serves sailed past him.
Thiem’s dominance was short-lived, however. The Spaniard served first in the second and finally held for his first game of the match. From that moment on, it was as though the fist set had not happened. The magical tennis was gone for Thiem, replaced with his more typical game.
Nadal nabbed the first break of the second set at 3-4, but he dropped serve with a nervous game at 5-3 to give his break advantage away. As with everything else in Tuesday night’s match, Thiem’s success was fleeting. Nadal got back to work with the ninth seed serving at 4-5 and secured another break to level the match at a set apiece.
It was Thiem who snagged the early break in the third set, Thiem who got the first break at 3-3, and Thiem who served for the set at 5-4. As with all things (except the first set), nothing was easy in this match. The Austrian’s nerves made an appearance and Nadal pounced. The Spaniard snatched the set out from under Thiem: two sets to one, Nadal.
From there, it was an all-out baseline war. Nadal went down an early break and broke back, only to have Thiem force a fifth in the tiebreaker. The 25-year-old fought for all he was worth in the fifth, fighting off break points at 2-2 and 5-5 to force the breaker, but it was not to be. Nadal clinched the victory on a missed overhead from his opponent after 2 a.m. local time.
When asked to describe the challenge of the match, Nadal said, “Sad for him because when arrive this moment, he did all the things well to win the match. Me, too, I think. I fighted until the end.”
Fought they did, and embraced at the conclusion of the battle.
Thiem mused, “Yeah, it’s going to be stuck in my mind forever. Forever I’m going to remember this match, for sure. It’s cruel sometimes, tennis, because I think this match didn’t really deserve a loser. But there has to be one.”
Nadal, who gets two much-needed days of rest, will face Juan Martin del Potro on Friday in the semifinals.
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