It might have taken four hours and 10 minutes, but Wednesday’s match for Austrian great Dominic Thiem was well worth it. In a four set marathon, Thiem defeated the great Rafael Nadal of Spain 7-6, 7-6, 4-6, 7-6 in the quarterfinals of the 2020 Australian Open.
This was Thiem’s first win over Nadal at a major. Surprisingly, Thiem had beaten Nadal four times on clay before, which is considered Nadal’s strength. Nadal still has the 9-5 head to head advantage against Thiem, who is the fifth ranked player in the world.
On Wednesday, Thiem clearly agitated Nadal with his power. Nadal broke Thiem in each of the first two sets, however Thiem bounced right back with breaks himself and then dominated each tiebreak to take a commanding 2-0 lead. It should also be noted that the first and second sets took over one hour to play.
At age 33, Nadal looked like the elder statesman on Wednesday. It does not happen too often that Nadal lacked the speed on the court compared to his opponent, however there is no doubt that Thiem had the edge when it came to overall quickness.
According to ESPN, it is also the first time in Nadal’s tennis career that he has lost three tiebreaks in a match. Thiem outscored Nadal 22-13 in the deciding portions of the first, second and fourth sets.
Thiem will now play Alexander Zverev of Germany in the second semifinal on Friday. Thiem has the 6-2 advantage head-to-head. Zverev, the seventh seed, beat Stanislas Wawrinka of Switzerland 1-6, 6-3, 6-4, 6-2 in the other quarterfinal.
In the first semifinal on Thursday, Novak Djokovic of Serbia plays the great Roger Federer of Switzerland. Head-to-head, Djokovic has the 26-23 advantage.
