Thiem beats Nadal in Oz Open quarters
Thiem beats Nadal, Zverev stuns Stan
Melbourne, Jan. 29: Dominic Thiem shocked top seed Rafael Nadal and Alexander Zverev ousted former champion Stan Wawrinka as tennis’s young pretenders stole a march on the old guard to reach the Australian Open semifinals on Wednesday.
Austria’s Thiem, 26, beat Nadal 7-6 (7/3), 76 (7/4), 4-6, 7-6 (8/6) — his first win in six attempts at Grand Slams, including two French Open finals — to end the 33-year-old’s bid to equal Roger Federer’s 20 Major titles.
Earlier Zverev, 22, beat 2014 champion Wawrinka, 34, to go into a semifinal with Thiem, meaning that one of them will reach Sunday’s final against Roger Federer or Novak Djokovic, who have won 12 of the last
14 Australian Open titles.
Thiem had Nadal’s measure in the first two sets and he recovered from dropping the third to win the fourth-set tie-breaker, getting off the floor after falling to win one point and enjoying some luck from the net cord to set up the third and decisive match point.
“I was lucky in the right situation — the net cord was really on my side,”
Thiem said. “But it's necessary because he is one of the greatest of all time. You need some luck to beat him,” he added.
Several young players have been knocking on the door of the Big Three of Nadal, Federer and Djokovic, and either Thiem or Zverev will get a chance to kick it open in Sunday’s final.
ZVEREV RALLIES TO STUN WAWRINKA
Germany’s Zverev rallied from a set down to halt three-time Major-winner Wawrinka 1-6, 6-3, 6-4, 6-2 and reach his first Grand Slam semifinal.
Big things have been tipped for Zverev since he burst into the top 10 in 2017, but he said that until now he has been pushing himself too hard at the Majors.
“I was doing things in a way too professional way. I was not talking to anybody. I wasn't going out with friends. I wasn't having dinner. I was just really almost too focused.”
“I changed that a little bit this week... maybe this is how it should happen,” he added.
Stan Wawrinka, the three-time Grand Slam champion — a winner at Melbourne Park in 2014 — came into the match after a tough five-set win over fourth seed Daniil Medvedev.
That followed another five-setter in round two against Andreas Seppi, and they appeared to take their toll on the 34-year-old.
“In the end, if I look at the third set and fourth set, I was struggling to really push myself. It was not enough,” he said.
Despite failing to make his first Slam semi-final since his run to the French Open final in 2017, Wawrinka was happy to again reach the second week of a Major, which he said set him up well for the season.
“In general I'm happy with the tournament. I had a really difficult first week. I had to fight a lot to still be here,” he said.
Meanwhile, Roger Federer has been fined $3,000 for cursing during his quarterfinal victory at Melbourne Park.
He had argued with the chair umpire after being warned for an audible obscenity during the third set of what became a five-set win over Tennys Sandgren. Federer saved seven match points during the fourth set.
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