A younger generation started knocking on the door last season and it took big step toward barreling right through it on Wednesday night.
There is still a long way to go for Dominic Thiem before he captures a first Grand Slam title, but his quest continued in Melbourne with a 7-6(3), 7-6(4), 4-6, 7-6(6) victory over Rafael Nadal in the quarterfinals of the Australian Open. Thiem advanced to his first slam semifinal outside of Roland Garros, setting up a showdown with good friend Alexander Zverev after four hours and 10 minutes.
In traditional games, Nadal won four more points than his opponent across the four sets. In three tiebreakers, however, Thiem was plus-9. The fifth-ranked Austrian was especially clutch on big points early in the fourth set, as well, saving three break points at 0-1 and then breaking immediately thereafter for a 2-1 lead.
Theim eventually failed to serve out the match with a disastrous game at 5-4, but it hardly mattered given his tiebreaker dominance.
“[Like] the other day, I don’t have a big explanation when I won two tiebreaks against (Nick) Kyrgios,” Nadal reflected. “Today I don’t have another clear explanation why I lost two tiebreaks. Probably because he played better than me. Normally that’s the reason why you lose or you win tiebreaks.”
It was Thiem who won all of them on Wednesday, thus earning a second career slam victory over a world No. 1 (d. Novak Djokovic in the 2019 French Open semifinals). Now he is one win away from a third major final (0-2 in French Open finals, both against Nadal), two away from a maiden major title.
“I don’t feel really like that I broke a barrier,” Thiem admitted. “It was just an unbelievable match…. I think on a very high level from both of us. That’s what I’m most happy about. Also, of course, that I’m for the first time in the semis of Australian Open. That’s for me a barrier.
“But to really break a barrier, one young player has to win a slam. Yeah, one of us (is) going to be in the finals. But it’s still a very long way to go. I mean, other semifinals is still two of the Big 3. I think we are still a pretty long way from overtaking or from breaking this kind of barrier.”
They would have been even farther away if Thiem had thrown this one away, which would have been salt in the wound of a younger generation after Tennys Sandgren blew seven match points against a hobbled Roger Federer on Tuesday.
The 26-year-old thought about throwing it away, and maybe a younger version of himself would have. But he didn’t.
Maybe it’s finally his time.
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nice one, Thiem
Just a great match by any standard….both men played fantastic tennis!