Latest sports scores at — http://sports.arabtimesonline.com Thiem upsets Nadal to reach semis

Halep, Muguruza take contrasting paths to last 4 in Australia

MELBOURNE, Australia, Jan 29, (AP): Outplayed at his own brand of physical tennis for much of the match, Rafael Nadal finally claimed a set to try to start a comeback against Dominic Thiem.

Nadal marked the moment by hopping in a crouch at the baseline and vigorously pumping his right arm four times.

Soon, though, he was back in trouble. And eventually, his bid to tie Roger Federer’s record of 20 Grand Slam titles by winning the Australian Open was over with a quarter-final loss Wednesday to Thiem – a younger version of Nadal himself.

Thiem’s 7-6 (3), 7-6 (4), 4-6, 7-6 (6) victory over the top-seeded Nadal lasted 4 hours, 10 minutes because of so many lengthy, electrifying points. One rather memorable one featured Thiem stumbling onto his backside before popping up and keeping the ball in play until Nadal made a mistake.

Thiem reached his fifth major semifinal but first somewhere other than at the French Open, the place that is Nadal’s domain.

Of more significance: The outcome ended Nadal’s career-best streak of making at least the semifinals at seven consecutive Grand Slam tournaments, a span during which he earned three trophies.

Thiem had been 0-5 against Nadal at the majors, including losses in the final at Roland Garros each of the past two years.

Thiem managed to hang in there with Nadal on physical baseline exchanges, trading ground-stroke for ground-stroke and picking the proper spots to move forward.

Or to describe it another way: Thiem was out-Nadal-ing Nadal, the ultimate grinder who never met a point that was too long or too grueling.

Now Thiem will play No. 7 Alexander Zverev on Friday for a berth in the title match.

Zverev reached his first major semifinal anywhere by overcoming a terrible start Wednesday and putting together a 1-6, 6-3, 6-4, 6-2 victory over three-time Grand Slam champion Wawrinka.

So instead of Nadal, 33, against Wawrinka, 34, it’ll be Zverev, 22, against Thiem, 26, a couple of members of the new generation trying to collect a breakthrough Slam title.

The first two sets Wednesday sets were remarkably similar: Nadal would go up by a break, then Thiem would break back and take it in a tiebreaker. The first lasted 67 minutes, the second 69.

There was another break when Thiem served for the victory at 5-4 in

Halep

Austria’s Dominic Thiem makes a forehand return to Spain’s Rafael Nadal during their quarter-final match at the Australian Open tennis championship in Melbourne, Australia on Jan 29. (AP)

the fourth but was undone by a series of jitters-induced mistakes. There were three off-the-mark forehands, with a double-fault mixed in for good measure.

Then, on his first match point, at 6-4 in the last tiebreaker, Thiem drove a leaping forehand into the net, then covered his face with his left hand.

His second match point came and went with a lob that landed long.

But Thiem did not fold there, getting a third opportunity to close it with a cross-court backhand that glanced off the tape – one of a handful of favorable net cords for him.

Zverev began 2020 with three consecutive losses, which meant he had plenty of problems – and plenty of time on his hands ahead of the Australian Open.

Zverev, a 22-year-old from Germany, reached his first major semifinal by overcoming a terrible start Wednesday at Melbourne Park and putting together a 1-6, 6-3, 6-4, 6-2 victory over three-time Grand Slam champion Stan Wawrinka.

After ceding the opening set in 24 minutes, Zverev regrouped and re-calibrated his strategy, using all of his 6-foot-6 (1.98-meter) frame to get to balls along the baseline and stretch points until Wawrinka faltered. It worked. Zverev’s sometimes-shaky

Spain’s Garbine Muguruza reacts after winning the first set against Russia’s Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova during their quarter-final match at the Australian

Open tennis championship in Melbourne, Australia on Jan 29. (AP)

serve – he was double-faulting once per game while losing all of his matches at the season-opening ATP Cup – was suddenly terrific, and Wawrinka’s barrel-chested baseline bashing weakened, as if he might be injured.

Simona Halep went to work a long way from home in the off-season, out near the desert, not taking a day off.

Her focus was on getting fitter in a bid to win a third major title, to go with the championships at Wimbledon last year and her career breakthrough at the French Open in 2018.

Garbine Muguruza climbed Kilimanjaro, got away from it all. She didn’t want to dwell on two relatively barren seasons since her Wimbledon win in 2017.

After contrasting preparations, Halep is back in the Australian Open semifinals for the second time in three years, and Muguruza has made it for the first time at Melbourne Park. The pair of two-time major winners will play off for a spot in the final after winning their quarter-finals in straight sets on Wednesday.

Both have already won Wimbledon and the French Open and have been ranked No. 1, and are bidding for their first Grand Slam title on a hard court.

There are three major winners in the last four, with reigning French Open champion Ash Barty playing No. 14 Sofia Kenin in the other women’s semifinal Thursday. The topranked Barty is trying to end a drought for Australians at home: The last woman to win the singles championship was Chris O’Neil in 1978.

Halep has been close before at Melbourne Park. She saved match points in the third round and in the semifinals in 2018 before losing the final in three sets to Caroline

Wozniacki.

The 28-year-old Romanian said that tough loss to Wozniacki was the catalyst for her breakthrough win that year at Roland Garros, where she beat Muguruza in the semifinals.

On Wednesday, she needed only 53 minutes to beat first-time major quarter-finalist Kontaveit 6-1, 6-1.

Kontaveit held the opening game at love. From then on, it was all one way as Halep went on a relentless, 11-game roll.

Seeded fourth, Halep has advanced to the last four without dropping a set, and said she feels like she’s playing her best tennis.

Muguruza was ill at the start of tournament and lost her first set 6-0 before recovering to beat US qualifier Shelby Rogers in three sets, conceding just one further game in the match.

She has followed that up with wins over two top 10 players – Wimbledon and US Open semifinalist Elina Svitolina and No. 9 Kiki Bertens.

The 26-year-old Spaniard took a little more than 1-1/2 hours to eliminate No. 30 Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 7-5, 6-3 in the quarter-finals, with both players struggling with their serves with the sun shining brightly at one end.

The win earned Muruguza a spot in the Grand Slam semis for the first time since Roland Garros in ‘18.