Monitoring Desk
MELBOURNE: Top seed Rafael Nadal was denied a place in the Australian Open semi-finals as Austria’s Dominic Thiem rattled the Spaniard with a powerful display to win a four-set thriller.
Fifth seed Thiem won 7-6 (7-3) 7-6 (7-4) 4-6 7-6 (8-6) at Melbourne Park.
The 26-year-old, beaten by Nadal in the past two French Open finals, missed two match points before taking a third to win in four hours and 10 minutes.
He will now face Germany’s Alexander Zverev in Friday’s last-four match.
It will be a first semi-final in Melbourne for both men and the winner will face either Serbia’s defending champion Novak Djokovic or Swiss third seed Roger Federer in Sunday’s final.
Thiem missed the chance to serve out the match at 5-4 in the fourth, becoming jittery with three unforced errors and a double fault as Nadal levelled by doing little to earn it.
But Thiem regrouped to win the third tie-break of a thrilling contest against the 19-time Grand Slam champion.
“I was holding my serve great and then it came to 5-4,” Thiem said.
“That was a special situation for me, serving against Rafa for a place in the Australian Open semi-finals for the first time.
“It was a mentally tough situation but I turned it around again in the tie-breaker.”
Thiem raised both arms in the air when Nadal hit a forehand into the net on the third match point, clutching and shaking his head in what was likely to be a mixture of relief and disbelief.
Nadal’s defeat means he will have to wait to be able to equal Federer’s all-time record of 20 Grand Slam victories.
Thiem has long been heralded as one of the younger players ready to finally wrestle the sport’s biggest prizes from the ‘big three’ of Nadal, Djokovic and Federer, but he has not consistently challenged them across all four Grand Slams.
Known as a clay-court specialist, he has naturally gone closest to fulfilling his potential at the French Open.
He has reached the past two finals at Roland Garros, only to be hustled out of the trophy on both occasions by 12-time champion Nadal.
But Thiem has shown he also has the game to be successful on the hard courts, notably by winning the prestigious Indian Wells title last year.
He has now finally proved it on one of the biggest stages against a man who had beaten him in their five previous Grand Slam meetings.
Nadal struggled to cope with Thiem’s crushing groundstrokes, being worn down in the longer rallies and unable to stop 65 winners from his opponent.
A shank from Nadal on a third break point at 1-1 in the fourth swung momentum back in Thiem’s direction, leaving him serving out the match at 5-4.
But he tensed up to hand the advantage back to the Spaniard, who did little to earn the break after three unforced errors and a double fault from his nervous opponent.
“There were demons in the head,” Thiem said afterwards, by now able to laugh. “Everyone has them.
“I was rushing too much and changing tactics from the rest of the match and that was wrong.
“It is tough to handle.”
Thiem said he had to “start from zero” and was able to recover to win the tense tie-break – but only after spurning his first two match points.
The first, on his serve, went begging when he walloped a forehand into the net. There was more drama on the second. Nadal watched a looping return land past the baseline, but it was not called out and Nadal coolly did not offer a shot and instead simply challenged the call in order to win the point.
Thiem was not to be denied at the third attempt, however – a chance which came after another fortunate net-cord worked in his favour. “I had luck in the right situations, the net cord was on my side,” Thiem said.
“But it is necessary because he is one of the greatest of all time and you need some luck to beat him.”
Alexander Zverev beats Stan Wawrinka to reach semis
Alexander Zverev is through to a Grand Slam semi-final for the first time after defeating Stan Wawrinka in four sets at the Australian Open.
The German seventh seed beat the Swiss three-time Grand Slam champion 1-6 6-3 6-4 6-2, dropping a set for the first time in Melbourne this year.
He lost the first five games in only 16 minutes but bounced back to convert five out of 13 break points.
The 22-year-old will face Rafael Nadal or Dominic Thiem in the last four.
World number one Nadal takes on Austrian fifth seed Thiem on the Rod Laver Arena at 08:30 GMT on Wednesday.
In the other semi-final, 20-time Grand Slam champion Roger Federer will face last year’s Australian Open winner Novak Djokovic on Thursday.
Wawrinka, who won the Australian Open in 2014, has now been knocked out at the quarter-final stage in three of the past four Grand Slams.
The 34-year-old started strongly against Zverev, racing through the opening set and winning 16 out of 19 points on his serve, even though his first-serve percentage was only 32%.
But Zverev really stepped up in the second, not dropping a point in five service games and breaking once to level at one set all.
Both players lost their opening service games at the start of the third, before Zverev moved 4-2 up and then served out the set.
The German opened up a 4-0 lead in the fourth as Wawrinka sprayed shots all over the court, possibly feeling the effects of two five-set matches earlier in the tournament against Andreas Seppi and Daniil Medvedev.
Zverev, who had not gone beyond the fourth round in Melbourne prior to this year, said: “I don’t know what to say. I’ve done well in other tournaments, I’ve won Masters, I’ve won the ATP Finals, but I never could break that barrier in a Grand Slam. I’m happy to be in the semi-finals.” (BBC)
