Thiem knocks king of clay Nadal out of Italian Open
rome — Austria’s Dominic Thiem dumped seven-times champion Rafael Nadal out of the Italian Open 6-4 6-3 on Friday to reach the semifinals.
Beaten twice by Nadal in the last three weeks, in Barcelona and in Madrid, Thiem made it third time lucky against the 30-year-old Spanish favourite, who was unbeaten on clay this year with 17 straight wins. Thiem will now play world number two Novak Djokovic or Argentina’s Juan Martin del Potro.
Rising German star Alexander Zverev earlier reached his first ATP Masters 1000 semifinal with a 7-6(4) 6-1 defeat of world number six Milos Raonic.
Zverev, 20, will face John Isner for a place in the final after the American beat Croatian Marin Cilic 7-6(3) 2-6 7-6(2).
“It’s another stepping stone in my career,” Zverev told the ATP’s website. “I feel like I have played very well today. I returned very well. So I’m happy to be in the semis and playing John tomorrow, who I know very well from our Saddlebrook (Florida) days. It’s going to be a great match.”
In his first meeting with Raonic, Zverev twice let a break slip in the opening set, on the second occasion failing to serve out the set at 6-5. But in windy conditions he comfortably won the tiebreak and sped through the second set.
Isner served 21 aces on his way past Cilic as he became the first American to reach the semifinals in Rome since Andy Roddick in 2008. Meanwhile, Romanian sixth seed Simona Halep and Dutchwoman Kiki Bertens will face off in the semifinals on Saturday after coming through their respective quarterfinal matches.
Halep surged into the last four for the third time after a 6-2, 6-4 win over Estonian qualifier Anett Kontaveit. Halep, who reached the French Open final in 2014, now meets Bertens after the 15th seed, ranked 20th in the world, ousted Australian qualifier Daria Gavrilova 6-3, 6-3. Meanwhile, world number two Novak Djokovic says he expects Stan Wawrinka and Andy Murray to lift their game at the French Open despite failing to make an impact so far in the clay court season. Murray lost to Fabio Fognini earlier this week in the second round of the Italian Open, while Wawrinka became the latest high-profile casualty at the event after suffering a straight sets defeat to John Isner on Thursday.
Djokovic is wary of the threat Wawrinka poses at Roland Garros having lost to the Swiss in the final two years ago. He also expects Briton Murray to be ready despite five victories from his last 10 matches.
“Some top players come out and play their best when it’s most needed, which is grand slams,” Djokovic said. “I wouldn’t be surprised to see Wawrinka or Murray playing at a really high level in Paris, because I guess they are aiming to do that. And it’s best of five and played every second day, which allows you to have more time to rest and recover, whereas in these tournaments... you play day after day after day, and it’s very intense for the body and for the mind.” — Reuters