Thiem is up for Dom as Diego wins five-setter
DOMINIC Thiem’s bid for French Open glory came to an and after an epic five-setter against Diego Schwartzman.
The Austrian, who won the US Open just 23 days ago, finally wilted in the deciding set in a match of extraordinary quality.
Schwartzman made it a double celebration for Argentina, following Nadia Podoroska’s shock win over another third seed, Elina Svitolina, by reaching his first grand slam semi-final. After more than five hours of gripping drama, 5ft 7in Schwartzman felt 10ft tall as he wrapped up a 7-6 (1) 5-7 6-7 (6) 7-6 (5) 6-2 victory.
Schwartzman said: “Dominic is one of the best players right now in the world. He won the last grand slam, he is a two-time finalist here, and I have a lot of respect for him.
“That’s why this match is very important for me. I played a few five-setters here and I never won. I think at the end this night I deserved to win.”
After two gruelling sets were shared the third, which featured eight breaks of serve, felt pivotal.
Schwartzman squandered a set point on the Thiem serve with a forehand which floated long, was promptly broken in the next, but then hit back to take it to a tiebreak.
An outrageous drop shot from the baseline which flopped almost apologetically over the net brought up two set points for Thiem.
Battling Schwartzman saved both, but Thiem dispatched a third with an overhead to take the lead for the first time in the match.
Yet Schwartzman forged ahead in the fourth and had three set points on his own serve, only for Thiem to save the lot - including one with a scarcely believable forehand pass on the run - to take it to 5-5.
However, Schwartzman took the subsequent tie-break and, amidst a superhuman effort from both players, the 28-year-old from Buenos Aires had more left in the tank in the decider.
In the men’s doubles British duo Jamie Murray and Neal Skupski missed out on a place in the semifinals. The 13th seeds were beaten 6-4 6-4 by German pair Andreas Mies and Kevin Krawietz, the defending champions.
Meanwhile, Podoroska made French Open history with a shock defeat of third seed Svitolina in their quarter-final.
The 23-year-old from Argentina, playing at Roland Garros for the first time, became the first qualifier to reach the women’s singles semifinals. It has been a tournament full of upsets but Podoroska pulled off the biggest of the lot, stunning the Ukrainian world number five 6-2 6-4.
Podoroska’s run in Paris – eight matches and counting including qualifying – is all the more remarkable given that she had never previously won a grand slam match.
Moreover the world number 131 had never played a top-20 player before, let alone beaten one.
But Podoroska looked right at home on her first appearance on Court Philippe Chatrier, racing through the first set with 17 winners to Svitolina’s two.
Svitolina finally held serve at the start of the second and then forged a break ahead, but Podoroska immediately wiped that out with a stunning drop shot.
Break after break followed until Podoroska held for 5-4 and then converted a third match point with a forehand winner before hurling her racket in the air in jubilation.