The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Thiem overcomes nerves to advance to men’s final
MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA — Locked in an even-as-can-be Australian Open semifinal, Dominic Thiem looked up at his guest box, patted his belly and stuck out his tongue, as if to indicate he was feeling sick. He shook his head. He winced.
Whatever might have been going on, Thiem turned out to be well enough to play, well enough to win.
The 26-year-old Austrian reached his third Grand Slam final overall and first at Melbourne Park by using his baseline bullying and big-moment bravado to beat Alexander Zverev 3-6, 6-4, 7-6 (3), 7-6 (4) on Friday night.
“I was feeling nerves, I think. I was putting so much energy, so much effort in, so my stomach was not ready for that. I think it was rebelling a little bit,“Thiem said, laughing about what happened. “But all good. I sometimes have it when I have tough matches.“
The key to Thiem’s victory over No. 7 Zverev was the same as the key to his previous win, over No. 1 Rafael Nadal in the quarterfinals: coming through in the clutch. Thiem went a combined 5 for 5 in tiebreakers in those matches.
“I was going for it. Could have also missed them,” he said about some of his shots Friday. “I was brave, but also lucky that I made these.”
The No. 5-seeded Thiem’s opponent in the title match Sunday will be No. 2 Novak Djokovic, the defending champion, who eliminated Roger Federer on Thursday.
The women’s final is Saturday, with two-time major champion Garbine Muguruza of Spain taking on 14th-seeded Sofia Kenin of the United States. It is Muguruza’s fourth Grand Slam final and the 21-year-old Kenin’s first.
Djokovic, 32, will be appearing in his record eighth Australian Open final and 26th Grand Slam final overall. While Thiem eyes his first major trophy, Djokovic is going for No. 17, which would move him within three of Federer’s record of 20. Rafael Nadal, with 19, is the only other man ahead of Djokovic.
Thiem’s two previous major finals came on the red clay of the French Open, where he was the runner-up to 12-time champion Nadal each of the last two years.
Now he will face a similar challenge: Djokovic owns a record seven titles from the hard courts of the Australian Open. Zverev’s take on Thiem’s form? “He’s playing the best tennis of his life,” said Zverev, who was making his debut in a Slam semifinal.
Thiem never had been past the fourth round in Melbourne until now. But he’s morphing into a superior hard-court player — and one in rather fine form at the moment, with three consecutive wins over top-10 opponents, including No. 1 Nadal in the quarterfinals and, now, Zverev.
“He flattens his shot out much more. Before, he was a complete clay-court player. A lot of movement, a lot of running around, stuff like that,” Zverev said. “Now he has a complete hard-court game.”