Dominic Thiem, the 2020 Australian Open runner-up, will battle the Aussie Alex de Minaur in the U.S. Open quarterfinals on Wednesday. The winners gets either Daniil Medvedev or Andrey Rublev.
(2) Dominic Thiem vs. (21) Alex de Minaur
Until this season, Dominic Thiem was really only considered a Grand Slam threat at the French Open–where he was a semifinalist in 2016 and 2017 and a finalist in 2018 and 2019. This year, however, the Austrian broke through at the Australian Open, where he earned a spot in the final and pushed eventual champion Novak Djokovic to five sets.
Alex de Minaur is a bit of a surprise quarterfinalist in New York, not because he isn’t talented enough, but because he has been in poor form this year. Until this fortnight, the Aussie had a miserable 2-4 record on the season. His most notable win en route to this match was a third-round ouster of the No. 11 seed Karen Khachanov.
Thiem owns a 2-0 record over de Minaur, but the two men haven’t met since their 2018 Davis Cup rubber. The No. 2 seed certainly heads into tomorrow’s match as the favorite. While de Minaur is playing well and is more than capable of putting up a fight, Thiem is far more consistent with far more experience in big-match play. De Minaur’s previous best Grand Slam showing was a fourth round last year at the U.S. Open.
Cheryl pick: Thiem in 4
Ricky pick: Thiem in 4
WWW?
Thiem in 3.