Schwartzman tops Thiem in five sets to advance to semifnials

PARIS — Diego Schwartzman played through the wind and rain, and into the dark of night, against Dominic Thiem at the French Open, contesting a total of 376 points spread out across five sets and 5 hours, 8 minutes, knowing all the while he’d never won amatch of this magnitude.

And so, as he kept wasting chances to seize control of their quarterfinal Tuesday night, kept letting sets slip away, Schwartzman yelled at himself or at his coaches, put his hands on his hips or smirked at his mistakes.

Then, two points from defeat against the U.S. Open champion and two-time runner-up at Roland Garros, Schwartzman found his way and emerged with a 7-6 (1), 5-7, 6-7 (6), 7-6 (5), 6-2 victory Tuesday by taking the last four games against a fading Thiem.

“I mean, we both gave everything,” said the No. 3-seeded Thiem, who is good friends with Schwartzman. “The thing in tennis is that there is one loser, one winner. Despite (being) so disappointed, I’m still happy for him.”

The 12th-seeded Schwartzman next will face 12-time French Open champion Rafael Nadal, whose 7-6 (4), 6-4, 6-1 victory over 19-year-old Jannik Sinner of Italy didn’t start until after 10:30 p.m. and didn’t finish until nearly 1:30 a.m. Wednesday.

Areporter wanted to know whether Schwartzman would be watching Nadal vs. Sinner.

“For sure, I’m going to be awake,” said Schwartzman, who defeated Nadal at a clay-court tuneup in Rome last month. “It’s going to be tough to sleep.”

The 28-year-old from Argentina entered his match against Thiem with an 0-3 record in major quarterfinals. He acknowledged that weighed on him.

“I was just so nervous,“Schwartzman said. “I saw the chance today.”

Schwartzman’s edginess was on display a few times. He couldn’t believe it when chair umpire Louise Azemar Engzell appeared to get a call wrong in the first set. He argued with her again later when she wouldn’t halt the match despite a rain shower, saying: “How do you know it’s playable or not … if you are sitting there, and we are playing?”

It was a grueling contest in which more than 100 of the points lasted at least nine strokes — frequently going past 20 or even 30 shots. Good as he is at speeding along the baseline on those kinds of extended exchanges, Schwartzman did some of his best work at the net, winning the point on 62% of his trips forward.

The 5-foot-7 Schwartzman’s serve is a liability, his biggest weakness and, so far, impediment to greater success. But while he lost nine of his service games, he made up for that with one of his many other skills — returning — and broke Thiem 10 times.

The ninth break put Schwartzman up 4-2 in the fifth when Thiem netted a backhand, and the last ended it, when Thiem put two drop shots into the net.

Thiem had been 17-1 in Grand Slam action this year, including a run to the final at the Australian Open in February. He also had won 26 of his past 30 matches at Roland Garros, with the losses all coming against Rafael Nadal or Novak Djokovic.